


I call it magic, such a precious truth

by snugglesformuggles



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Alternate Universe - Witchcraft, Body Horror, Coran is his godfather and owns the shop, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Keith (Voltron) Has Abandonment Issues, Keith has a stalker, Keith is psychic, Lance is protective, Lance is smart and helps a lot, Lance works in a shop, M/M, Magic is Real, Murder, Mystery, Psychic Abilities, Psychological Horror, Stalking stuff, Telekinesis, because i like it ok its a modern au, but the world doesn't know, i feel like i should establish that there will NOT BE CHARACTER DEATH, its a secret - Freeform, listen it gets hella dark in this, minor adashi as always, talks about death, talks about school shootings, they have magic school but thats not really important, they're all mages
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:22:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 45,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25663567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snugglesformuggles/pseuds/snugglesformuggles
Summary: Lance was doing just fine as a twenty-one-year-old water mage, pretty average life, pretty average student, pretty average guy. Until Keith Kogane rolls in with his stupid hair, stupid gloves and stupid...stalker. Now, Lance just wants to help and Keith just wants a good night's sleep. Pidge hates them both and Hunk wants everyone to please be careful. When both Lance and Keith's secrets are getting complicated with each other, they have to learn to figure out the misleading clues to whoever wants them dead and the clues as to what is going on with each other.Edit: Now with art by rispen on tumblr!!!
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 106
Kudos: 298





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I know I have one already going, but that's super fluffy and cute and affectionate. This one is a mystery and kind of a horror. Strap in, folks. It'll be a bumpy ride.  
> Also, I know that a lot of people that have like...witch au's like to give them their elementals like Lance is water and Keith is fire, which like totally valid and understandable...  
> But, idk that whole space whale thing and the whole quintessence visions made me think, well Keith could easily just be psychic  
> then boom, somehow this happened?

Lance liked his job well enough.

It was pretty steady pay (helps that the owner is his godfather) and the work is really interesting. As he was a constantly curious guy, he liked being so connected to the underground magics community in the city. Especially considering that helped him in his own studies at the Academy to be a water paladin mage. He eventually wanted to become a representative of the human mages to the water familiars in the ocean. But, for now working at Altea was a good gig.

The store had a front of just a used bookstore that happened to be in the different hippie quirky realm, a lot of plants hanging around, tarot cards, a specialty coffee bar, crystals and a cat that liked to sleep on the books. That was Blue, his own cat familiar. She would alert Lance if a real mage would walk in and they would be able to talk about actual magics, while regular humans without magic and no idea that it was real could just dabble in crystals and tarot reading.

Lance was on first-name basis with the president chapters of at least four lesbian/queer wiccan groups. That was pretty fun.

He entered the shop for his usual shift after Monday classes, closing his eyes and smiling at the usual scent of gentle lavender and sage.

“Lance! Just in time,” Coran said, scrambling from behind the shelves.

“In time for what?” he asked, warily.

Coran pushed a handful of papers and books into his arms. “I’m supposed to meet Allura for lunch today, but a customer has come in that needs help breaking a small techno magics curse on their computer.”

He pointed to a shaggy sandy-haired person with glasses at the counter, their laptop open and sitting on the counter. They were nervously biting at their fingernails and their eyes were wide and looking around with anxiety.

And Lance knew that person very well.

“Pidge?” he asked, shocked.

They turned and blinked, then gaped. “Uh, Lance? The guy in my advanced runes class at the Academy, Lance?”

He grinned, elated. “Yeah, that’s me! Huh, wow, small world!”

Pidge nodded, still seemingly off-kilter. “Yeah…uh, guess so. You work here?”

“Well, as much as I would love to stay and see what is going on here, I have to go. I’m already pretty late,” Coran said, interrupting the conversation. “Will you be alright on your own here, Lance?”

“Yeah, man. Don’t worry about me,” he said, casually moving through the shop and setting his canvas bag down behind the counter. “I’m not your level of curse-breaking, but I think I could manage this. Go on, tell Allura hi from me!”

Coran swept from the shop with a flourish and Lance turned to the laptop sitting in front of him.

“Alright, why don’t you tell me what went wrong while I do some diagnostic spells?” he said, bending over and searching through the book titles for what he wanted.

“Okay, well,” Pidge said, anxiously. “I have a project due and I was…trying to find a way to make it go faster. It was supposed to be a small speed coding spell. Nothing I haven’t done a million times before. But, I don’t know…something must have went wrong with my pronunciation and it fritzed it out. Now I can’t use it at all.”

Lance hummed, finding the techno magics book he was looking for and he set it on the counter. He then set his hands on the keyboard, searching through the already pretty magicked laptop to find the problem. It was obvious within the first search that the problem was right at the edge of the mainframe. A tiny sparking curse, dancing through the wires. It was a mischievous thing, not much malice.

“Oh, I think I found it. This is a pretty simple fix. But, you’re at like the top of our class in advanced techo magics, why wouldn’t you be able to break this on your own?” Lance asked, curious.

Pidge sighed, shaking their head. “This is my main system. I can’t risk it going wrong. And I know that Coran is like…really well-known.”

“True that he is,” Lance agreed, proud. “Do you need this done before your project is due?”

“Honestly, that might be totally shot at this point. I might have to take the fail on that one,” they said, dejected.

“Ah, now that’s not a very optimistic attitude!” Lance said. “Why don’t I give this special attention? You can hang around and see what we got that might interest you in the shop. If you want you go behind the door back there, ask for Hunk. Tell him I sent you. He’ll give you a great cup of coffee and pastry. He’s also the best listener if you got a lot of troubles.”

Pidge nearly fainted right in front of him. “Oh thank goddess. I could really use a strong caffeinated beverage.”

Lance chuckled, pointing to past the counter and behind the stacks. “Right back there. Can’t miss the sign.”

They shuffled back through the shelves quickly and Lance sat on the stool, getting ready to work. He shook out his arms and did a few basic practice spells, floating lights and moving pages, that sort of thing. Get his juices all revved and going.

He waved his hands over the computer, drawing out it’s surface level diagnostics and muttered under his breath in careful Latin. He quickly found the tricky little curse and focused on it, trying to draw it out and disentangle it from the wiring.

Lance’s eyebrow twitched as it immediately fought back.

The curse twirled tighter into the wires and his magic electrified underneath his skin, not used to this type of magic. He was an elemental mage, it doesn’t leave a whole lot of room to go outside that.

_Come on, even someone at my level could do this._

He was just about to get farther into its core, just as he was startled out of his intense concentration by the bell sounding at the door.

_Ah, shit._

“I’ll be right with you, just take a look around!” he called out to the man about his age that just walked in.

Lance quickly went to put away the book but froze as Blue jumped onto the counter and meowed at him. He breathed out a sigh of relief.

The man walked in was quite the looker, actually. Now that Lance wasn’t so worried about keeping magics a secret, as he knew the man must be a magic user himself, he could focus on the stranger. He had on a red cropped bomber jacket and fingerless gloves (wow, what a fashion disaster). He wore his hair long, just past his shoulders and fringe hanging in his face. His eyes swept over the shop, an interesting bright indigo color. The man turned to look at him, suspiciously.

Lance grinned. “Hey. You don’t have to worry about keeping it on the DL. We’re all friends of Merlin, here.”

The man nodded, seemingly not surprised. “My friend asked me to come by. Said that they’re getting a curse worked on.”

“Oh, are you talking about Pidge?” Lance asked, perking up.

“Yeah, actually,” he said, surprised. “Are they here?”

Lance nodded, pointing back over where he had just sent them. “Yep, back there in the coffee shop. Went to see my best friend Hunk. He’ll take good care of you.”

“Are you the owner?” he asked, probably looking at him strangely because of his age.

“Oh, nah, I’m a part-timer,” Lance said, waving a hand. He accidentally forgot how touchy his magic could be because he also sent a sharp breeze over the man, blowing his hair into his face.

Lance cringed, as the man stepped back, alarmed.

“Ah, oops, sorry! Totally didn’t mean to do that!” he said, immediately bringing his magic back against his chest.

The man huffed, grumpily. “Well, that’s great. Glad to know my friend’s cursed computer is in such _capable_ hands.”

“Hey, it was an accident!” Lance said, defensively. “I’ve been working under Coran for years now. I know what I’m doing!”

The man snorted in disbelief as he fixed his obnoxious haircut. “Yeah, obviously I can see that.”

“What? Do you think you could do better, huh?”

Lance wasn’t sure what it was that made him so riled up while talking to the stranger, but his a _sshole_ alarms were blaring in his mind. Maybe it was the cocky attitude or the critical eye.

He decided no matter how attractive the guy was, he was a prick.

The man just rolled his eyes. “Yeah, probably. But…whatever. It’s not my computer, so I don’t give a damn. I’m going to go see my friend. Don’t hurt yourself bending over backwards to prove you can do it.”

Lance gave the guy a harsh glare as he walked by the counter. And in a split-second decision that may or may not have totally been fueled by spite he muttered a small ground shifting spell to hit right under a step the stranger took. His indigo eyes widened as he felt the change and he tripped as a board curled upwards and he caught his boot on the edge.

Lance snickered as the man was sent to the floor, face first.

“What the hell?” the guy said, whipping around to glare at Lance.

He shrugged. “Sorry. Forgot to tell you about the weird floorboard. No idea what’s up with that.”

The man growled in irritation. “Goddess, you piss me off.”

Lance grinned, as the guy angrily got to his feet and stalked off behind the shelves.

“Thank you for visiting Altea! Please come back soon!” Lance called at his back.

The guy just flipped him off behind his back.

Keith was _not_ having a good day.

First, Shiro yelled at him for being late to classes a _gain._ Then, he found more threatening letters and cursed objects in his bag and textbooks. Nearly singed his entire face with one. And then, to top it all off, he met the most infuriating mage ever at Altea Books and Charms.

He seethed with anger and frustration as he none-too-gently opened the door to the café connected to the magic shop. It was a similar atmosphere, except had smaller windows and a few more people milling about. The chairs and tables were arranged in circles around each other and there was a bar at the front counter.

That’s where he found Pidge sitting at, chatting up a friendly-looking guy that was the barista. Keith made his way over, sitting next to them.

They stopped mid-sentence and looked over at him. They smirked.

“Rough day?”

Keith clicked his tongue. “Don’t get me started.”

The friendly guy behind the counter looked bothered by that. “Nuh uh, now I won’t let that one go. What’ll you have?”

Keith blinked at him, surprised. “Huh? Oh, I just came to see Pidge. I don’t really want-,”

“This guy just made me the best cup of coffee I have ever had. Order something,” Pidge said, interrupting him.

His eyebrow went up, suspiciously. “I highly doubt that.”

The guy then loomed quite large over him. He smelled the creation and strengthening magics off of him, making Keith sit upright in shock.

“Now, I _know_ you want something. Order it and I’ll change your life,” he said, smirking at the challenge.

“Okay, jeez, uh…” Keith said, giving in. “Give me a mocha latte with almond milk.”

The guy grinned, suddenly bright and cheery. “Coming right up!”

Keith breathed out a sigh of relief as Pidge cackled with mirth next to him. “Oh man, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Keith intimidated before. Hunk, you’re so cool, we _have_ to hang out.”

The man, _Hunk_ apparently, winked at them. “Count on it.”

Keith ran an exhausted hand through his hair. “Goddess, is _everyone_ after me today? Is there some big sign that’s just blaring ‘pick on Keith, he’s an easy target’?”

“Oh, shit, you’ve been getting those letters again, haven’t you?” Pidge asked, catching on.

Keith looked away, uncomfortable. He would never have even told Pidge about that unless they were right next to him when he found his first one three months ago in his bag.

“You need to go to the administration. This could actually be serious,” they said, concerned.

Hunk looked over from the machine, curiously. “Letters?”

“Some freakshow has been threatening Keith for like…months now. Has even sent him cursed dolls and everything,” Pidge explained, shaking their head.

“Pidge, I told you, I don’t want to cry wolf about this. Shiro has been disappointed enough as it is lately,” Keith said, dismissively. “And I wasn’t even talking about that. The guy back there that’s supposedly fixing your computer totally has it out for me.”

Hunk finished up the drink, sliding it over in a to-go cup. He looked surprised by Keith’s accusation.

“What? Are you talking about _Lance?_ Blue eyes, water mage, wouldn’t hurt a fly Lance?” Hunk asked, in disbelief.

“Apparently so,” Keith said, taking a sip. He nearly reeled back at how delicious it was. He didn’t know you could make coffee taste that good.

Pidge snorted. “What did you do to him?”

“Nothing!” Keith said, immediately. “ _He_ was the one that used wind magic at me!”

“Okay, but was that on accident?” Hunk asked, an eyebrow in the air. “Lance has really excitable magic. Sometimes it can overflow.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Accident or not, I just called it like it is, in which I asked him if he was really capable of curse breaking.”

“Oh and that’s _not_ something to be offended about?” Pidge asked, smirking at him.

“Of course, take his side,” Keith said, still very much enjoying his coffee. “I’m the bad guy here. Even though he totally tripped me on purpose after that.”

Hunk chuckled, wiping down the machine and counter. “Okay, maybe that one is a little on Lance. But, trust me on this. He’s a good guy.”

“You just got off on the wrong foot is all,” Pidge said, patting Keith’s shoulder. “I’m going to go check on the curse breaking and while I do that, you can apologize.”

“What do _I_ have to apologize for?” Keith muttered, but followed along anyway. He smacked a five-dollar bill on the counter. “Thanks for the coffee. It’s good.”

Hunk grinned, saluting them. “Come back whenever you want!”

Keith followed Pidge back to the front of the shop, noting Lance was back to working on the computer some more. He had his eyes closed and the computer under his hands sparked a little. He was chanting under his breath, his familiar keeping close and offering support.

Pidge approached cautiously, not wanting to startle him. Lance’s hands suddenly froze and his eyes opened wide as the computer fritzed and he gasped as a spark hit his finger.

“Ah, fuck, damn, shit…” he swore quietly, shaking out his hand.

Pidge snorted, unable to help themselves. Lance sighed, looking up and glaring at them. Keith smirked behind them.

“Okay, so it might be a little too much for me to handle. I’m not a curse-breaker, alright?” Lance said, frustrated.

“Clearly,” Keith muttered, chuckling.

Pidge stepped up, waving their hand. “It’s fine, Lance. Don’t worry about it. I can leave it here for Coran.”

Lance pouted, dejected. “I was so sure I could do it, though!”

“If you’re not a curse-breaker, then you’re not. It’s as simple as that,” Keith said, shrugging. “It’s not like I would be great at water magic as a psychic telekinetic.”

Lance’s eyes widened and he gaped. “You’re a psychic? That’s so cool!”

He seemed to realize he was talking to Keith, because he immediately cleared his throat and sat back, feigning nonchalance.

“I mean…like, whatever man.”

Keith rolled his eyes, then sighed. “Listen, about earlier…sorry. I didn’t mean for any of that to come out so aggressive.”

Lance studied him, closely. He seemed to come to a conclusion that Keith was telling the truth that he nodded.

“Okay. It was sort of my bad, too. Let’s start over,” he said, standing and reaching out a hand over the counter.

“Hi. The name’s Lance.”

Keith eyed the hand, warily. He didn’t like to touch skin with people he just met, in case he got a vision accidentally. But, he knew that for this to go well, he had to keep up appearances.

So, he walked forward and took his hand.

It was a mistake.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance gives some advice for the bothered Keith

“Hey, there my boy! How was that techno curse?” Coran asked, breezing right into the shop like a whirlwind.

Lance grumbled, unable to match his energy for once. “Don’t ever let me do that again. The curse made fun of me, same with Pidge’s friend. I never even got his name!”

Coran frowned, confused. “I’m sorry, what about Pidge’s friend?”

He groaned, as Blue came over and purred against his arms. “This dude came in, said he was Pidge’s friend, questioned my abilities and was super rude. He came back out, then apologized! So, I was like great! Going to make this fine now and shook his hand and he freaked! Left without even telling me his name!”

Coran hummed as he came behind the counter, turning his attention to the now fritzing computer. “Did he say anything about being a mage?”

“Yeah, he’s psychic telekinetic. Which, like, was super cool! I’d really like to just be his friend if he wasn’t such a freak,” Lance said, petting Blue to try and calm his rolling aggravated magic electrifying his skin.

“Well, I’m sorry that you had a bad experience with someone. I’ll get to work on this curse and you can just take it easy the rest of the shift.”

Lance spent the rest of the shift stocking the shelves and helping a few regular human customers. As soon as the clock chimed eight pm, Coran let him go and closed up shop. Hunk came out of the coffee shop.

“Ready to go?” Hunk asked, as calm and bright as ever.

Lance sighed and nodded. “Yep. Let’s go.”

Blue followed along after him and he sighed yet again, already exhausted thinking about his paper on selkie cultural relations.

“A lot on your mind?” Hunk asked, picking up on Lance’s downtrodden energy.

“Kind of weird day,” he answered, as Blue trotted alongside him.

“I talked to Pidge and Keith. They were pretty fun people to talk to,” Hunk said. “Although Keith did mention that he pissed you off.”

“Is that his stupid name? _Keith?”_ Lance asked, aghast. “What kind of cocky guy with the name as boring as _Keith.”_

“Did he not apologize?” Hunk asked, curious. “He said he was going to.”

“He did, then freaked and ran out on me. We didn’t get to finish our conversation. He’s such a weirdo,” Lance said, shaking his head.

“Come on, that’s pretty harsh, man.”

Lance clicked his tongue. “Whatever. It’s over. I don’t have to see him again.”

Two days later, Keith walked right into the store.

Lance was restocking the inventory of candles and beginner’s level magics books. He looked around the shelves, with a bright smile as usual to welcome a new customer.

“Hi, I’ll be right-oh,” he said, seeing Keith. “It’s you.”

Keith looked away, uncomfortable. “Yeah. It’s me. Pidge asked for me to come by and see how the curse-breaking is going.”

Lance sighed, finishing up the sage and headed back behind the counter. He squatted next to the finished curse-broken objects, pulling out the laptop.

“Yeah, it’s done. I can run a diagnostic spell over it to make sure, but Coran’s always really thorough. It should be just fine, now.”

Keith nodded, distant and looking away from him. It pissed Lance off to no end.

“You know, I just don’t get your deal. You’re so twitchy and suspicious, then you made fun of me, then you just run out. I didn’t even get your name. I had to hear it from Hunk,” Lance said, irritated. “ _Keith.”_

He looked at Lance, alarmed. “I-it’s not-listen, I don’t even know you. Why do you care?”

Lance huffed, shrugging. “I guess I don’t. It’s just rude, you know? Just because this is a really niche magics shop doesn’t mean that customer service doesn’t suck ass sometimes, too. I just thought a guy that was actually near my age and a magic user wouldn’t be like that.”

Keith clenched his jaw, then his shoulder dropped in resignation.

“I really am sorry, okay? Shit’s been…not great for me lately. I’ve got a pretty short temper, sometimes. I can take it out on people without meaning to,” he said, reluctantly.

Lance looked him up and down, noting how exhausted he looked and decided to take pity.

“Okay. Let me just see about whether Coran’s done with this.”

He reached over his hands, doing a basic magic searching spell. He only came up with positive, Pidge-related coding magic and Coran’s protective charms.

“It’s good to go. Pidge needs to come theirself to pick it up, though. Store policy and whatnot,” he said, packing it away under the counter again.

Lance leaned forward on his arms, tilting his head.

“So, tell me what shit’s been like.”

Keith blinked at him, surprised. He looked away, distant and uncomfortable again.

“It’s not any of your business.”

Lance nodded, able to understand that. “Is there anything I can help with?”

Keith opened their mouth to retort back, then closed it with a realization. “Uh, actually…”

He walked forward, digging through his bag and then pulling out a poorly made fabric doll. He was casual with it, but as soon as Lance saw it, he stepped back in alarm.

“Holy shit, dude. What the hell are you doing toting that around?” he asked, dumbfounded.

“Huh? What do you mean?” Keith asked, frowning.

“That thing _reeks_ of dark magics and malintent. Goddess, no wonder you’re so grumpy and have such bad luck,” he said, shivering from the black, inky aura that reverberated from it. “Where did you even get that?”

Keith sighed, glaring down at it. “Some douchebag kind of has it out for me. Has been sending me threatening letters and cursed objects for months. I was hoping that if I kept this with me, that if I ever saw the person who sent it to me, it would give me a vision to prove it was them.”

Lance shook his head, lip curling in disgust. “Dude, that won’t help you if you don’t _live_ to find them. Here, give it to Blue.”

He called for his familiar, who appeared right at his side on command and took the doll out of Keith’s hand. She jumped off and ran into the back room, where the dangerous items are kept.

“If we keep it here, Coran or Allura might be able to track the magic user by their magic imbuement. We can help you find whoever’s doing this to you,” Lance said, checking their inventory for protective crystals and herbs. “Come on, follow me.”

Keith followed after him, not a word of argument. Lance picked out a couple of charms and crystals to help promote a clear mind and strength in the face of danger, as well as warding crystals, for protection.

“Take these. They help keep negative energies out and cleanse around your house with some burning herbs and incense in case some of those curses got to your safe space. When you sleep, it leaves you vulnerable to psychic attacks. Especially since you’re a psychic yourself. Your mind is already open,” Lance explained, parroting Coran’s constant babble. “Wear the fire agate and black onyx like all the time. That should really help.”

Keith blinked at him, seemingly overwhelmed by the information. Lance smirked and put his hands on his hips.

“Dude, are you seriously so uninformed about this stuff? This is like protective magic 101.”

Keith frowned, picking up the crystals. “I’m more of an instinctual user. I don’t really…keep a lot of trinkets and crystals around. All my magic mostly comes from my head without needing to really think about it. And even then, a lot of the times it’s sort of against my will.”

Lance rolled his eyes. _Typical._

“Well, just listen to me about all that stuff and bring over those other cursed objects and any letters you still have. Allura may be able to do something about that stuff.”

Keith looked up at him, confused. “Why are you helping me? I thought you didn’t like me.”

“Uh…” Lance stood, without much to say to that. “Pidge is…my friend now. So, I don’t want them to get in the crosshairs with some black magic user being friends with you.”

“Okay, sure,” Keith said, chuckling. “Anything else?”

“Yeah,” Lance said, finger in the air. “If you have a familiar, really put crystals on them. Your familiar makes your magic stronger, but it’s also the easiest target to take you down. Since the soul bond connects to your core.”

Keith’s eyes widened, then he cursed in alarm. “Why didn’t I think of that? Shit.”

“Think I’m not up to the task now?” Lance asked, puffing up in pride.

Keith rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Do you want me to pay for this or not?”

Lance rang him up, with an employee discount. It was important to keep this guy safe, alright? Sue him for being a strong empathetic person.

“Uh, by the way…” Keith said, as he swiped his credit card. “Thanks. For this. I haven’t actually told anyone that really gave me much practical advice. I was wondering if I was just going to have to deal with it. So you…really did help me. Even when I probably didn’t deserve it.”

Lance studied as Keith nervously played with his gloves. He slowly gave the guy a smile.

“Hey, you’re not that bad, I’ve decided. And Hunk likes you, which is a huge plus. He’s a genius at reading people,” he said, casually leaning over the counter.

Keith gave him a shy smile. “I’ll come back and give y’all the other stuff I’ve gotten from whoever’s messing with me. I like Hunk’s coffee.”

Lance chuckled. “Good. I work five days a week, so don’t come Tuesday or Thursday. I won’t be here.”

Keith nodded, then left the shop.

Lance somehow got to be in a very good mood the rest of the shift.

“So…he gave you all those crystals, told you exactly how to protect yourself from the creep that’s stalking you and that happened right after you skipped out without even telling him your name?” Pidge asked that night from his couch.

Keith nodded next to them. “Yeah. That’s about what happened.”

“Dude…” they said, cackling. “Oh my Goddess, Lance totally has the hots for you.”

“What?” Keith whipped around in shock. “No he doesn’t! We don’t even know each other!”

Pidge snorted, shaking their head. “Which is the only reason as to why he would go those lengths for grouchy little you.”

He sighed, feeling his head start to hurt again. He groaned, fingers coming up to rub at his temples. He saw a flash of a vision, of a laughing tan face, bright and sunny. His heart skipped a beat and his magic swirled at the front of his mind.

“Vision? Anything juicy?” Pidge asked after it dissolved.

Keith grimaced, checking under his nose to see if there was a nosebleed. He was clean this time.

“No. Just a flash. I didn’t…recognize the person,” he said, vaguely.

“And you never told me what you saw with Lance. It must have been pretty crazy for you to just run like that.”

“Remember when I said that sometimes I get visions that aren’t for other people to know? Well, that one isn’t something I want to share,” Keith said, not wanting to think back to that vision.

“Was it that bad?” they asked, concerned.

Keith shook his head. “You don’t get to know. I’ll only talk about it if I have to.”

And Keith really hoped that that vision wouldn’t come true.

His visions and psychic abilities aren’t always set in stone, like people come to believe. Things are always changing constantly, with people making decisions that would go against their usual nature all the time. His visions would come to show him a _possible_ future if things aren’t veered a different course than they were. And usually there isn’t any way that Keith could know _when_ his visions are set to happen. All of those things are guesswork at best.

He can usually find ways to control it more by meditating a lot and focusing his strength with his familiar. But, the last few months, his visions were getting a lot more violent. He was almost scared to sleep at times.

“You’ve been getting a lot more secretive about your visions, ever since those letters started to come. Are you trying to hide just how in danger you are?” Pidge asked, seriously.

Keith sighed. “I promise that I’m not in any imminent danger.”

Kosmo came trotting in from the bedrooms, seemingly awoken by the vision. He could always tell when Keith got them. He patted the couch next to him and his wolf-dog familiar jumped up, checking him over for damage or psychological distress.

“So he asked for you to come back in with all your stuff?” Pidge asked, changing the subject back to Lance.

“All the cursed objects I got. Yeah.”

“Alright, then let’s go tomorrow after classes,” they said, casually.

“Friday.”

Pidge turned, surprised. “Why not tomorrow?”

Keith looked away, neck heating up a little. “Lance doesn’t work on Thursdays…”

They laughed.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith is probably way in over his head. Lance might be, too.

Friday’s shift came around and Lance was exhausted.

He wanted nothing more than to just crawl back home and sleep for a million years, but he had work to do. So, he did a small rejuvenation spell and kept a citrine stone around his neck. A big perk of working at the magic shop owned by his godfather was that he was free to use almost any merchandise, as long as it was small and replaceable.

Lance was doing some homework as he looked up at the sound of the bell chime.

Pidge and Keith were there, both looking as melancholy as he felt.

“Hey!” Lance said, sitting up and closing his textbook. “What’s up?”

Pidge stalked forward, now angry. “ _Another_ cursed object suddenly appeared in Keith’s mailbox. This time, it was a mix of hexing herbs mashed in a doll of Keith. He’s been all sick and disoriented since.”

Keith rolled his eyes at Pidge’s explanation, but Lance did notice how pale and off-kilter he looked.

“Jeez, man, someone really is out to get you, huh?” Lance asked, getting up and going around the counter to look at Keith in full. “Have you been wearing the crystals I gave you?”

Keith nodded, pulling out the crystals down his shirt. The fire agate and the black onyx stone sat against his chest. Pidge nervously bit at their fingernails.

“And you’re still affected by the talisman?”

Keith nodded, wiping at his sweaty forehead.

Lance frowned. That’s seriously potent magic, then.

“Could you somehow do something?” they asked, desperately.

“Yeah, hold on. I’ll get Coran for this one. He’d know what to do,” Lance said, hurrying back behind the curtain of beading into the back rooms. He stopped in the doorway of the first office.

“Coran, there’s an urgent customer up front. Way too powerful stuff for me,” he said, anxiously.

The man looked up from the paperwork, confused. “Really? Who is it?”

“It’s actually Pidge’s friend from the other day. He’s the one I told you about with the cursed objects and threats,” he responded.

Coran nodded, getting up and following him quickly. As he left out the office door, he turned to the other end of the hallway. “Allura!”

Allura popped her head out of her own office, interested. “Yes?”

“I might need your help with this.”

She nodded, straightening out and hurrying down the hallway. She waved her hand behind her absently, shutting the door.

Lance led the way back through and Keith was leaning against the counter, exhausted. Pidge was checking him over, desperately. Lance called for his familiar immediately and the cat sat against Keith’s head, rubbing and purring. Keith looked surprised by this.

“Blue helps with the healing process. It won’t be as effective for you as it is for me, obviously. But she should still help a little,” Lance explained, as Coran immediately went to do a diagnostic spell over Keith.

“Lance told me you have been getting cursed talismans? Do you have them with you?” Coran asked, seriously

Keith nodded, setting his bag down on the counter and opening it. Lance nearly jumped back at the waves of black magic and vile hatred that permeated through the air.

“Oh, Goddess, dude. You probably need to throw away that bag,” he said, as Allura took the bag, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

“These are very powerful. You’re lucky you haven’t been killed by a rogue falling piano,” she said, shivering.

“It’s not been anything really bad…just the usual small talisman and letter…” Keith said, cringing at the aura, too.

“It doesn’t quite matter how big or small the object is, if the intent to harm is there in the imbuement of magic, then that can become just as dangerous as any large object,” Coran explained, humming through his spell.

Allura took the bag into the back rooms and Lance settled against the counter next to Coran as he worked. When Coran reached forward to touch Keith’s forehead, Keith’s eyes widened in fear and he quickly leaned back out of reach.

Coran froze in the middle of the spell, surprised. Pidge stepped in, to explain.

“Sorry, Keith doesn’t like being touched very much. He’s a psychic and usually skin-to-skin contact can make him have a vision,” they said, quickly.

Keith looked over at them, looking a bit betrayed. Pidge rolled their eyes.

“Stop looking at me like that. They’re trying to help.”

Lance frowned, then he gasped. “Wait…is t _hat_ why you ran out like that after we shook hands?”

Keith sighed, shrugging. “Maybe…”

“So, you had a vision when you touched me?” Lance asked, unable to help himself from asking. “Wait, no don’t uh-you don’t have to answer that…”

Coran gave him a knowing look and Lance cringed a little at himself. He seemed to just completely lose his common sense around this guy.

Keith’s eyes furrowed, like he was wondering if he really was going to answer. Lance plowed on, trying to undo the suggestion.

“Okay, uh, anyway, could you do this without touching him?” Lance turned to Coran, quickly.

“Yes, I believe so. Although I’ll need Hunk’s help. He can brew a potion to quell the worst of the symptoms,” he said. “Lance could you go ask him?”

He nodded, moving around the counter and heading back to the café. Pidge followed along.

“Maybe I can help by telling Hunk about his symptoms,” they said, anxiously.

“You’re really protective of him,” Lance stated, curiously.

Pidge shrugged, noncommittedly. “I’m his roommate. I’d lose rent if he died.”

Lance snorted, not believing that one for a second, but let it slide. He checked around the café as they went in, seeing who was sitting around.

He sighed with relief that it was a few mage regulars and not normal humans. He went straight for the bar, calling to Hunk who spun around in surprise.

“Hey, buddy!” he said, beaming. “Pidge, too! What’s going on?”

Lance gestured to keep this more on the lowkey. Hunk put down the mug he was washing and Lance casted a small muffling spell around the three of them.

“Keith. Seems like that creep who’s after his head has jinxed him. He’s all sweaty and squirmy now. Coran wants you to whip up a brew to stave off the symptoms so he can work on reversing it,” Lance explained, completely serious.

Hunk’s eyes widened in alarm. “What? Really? Is he okay?”

“He’s got a low-grade fever, has been dizzy and his visions have been pretty rough on him,” Pidge said, listing off the symptoms.

Hunk hummed, pulling out his more magical ingredients and a bowl to mix with. He got to work, already crushing the herbs and adding some oils.

“Is he in any pain?” he asked, waving his hand over the usual coffee mixing recipes to reveal the potion recipes that he uses.

“He’s always in pain when he gets a vision. Lately, he’s been getting nosebleeds,” Pidge said, frowning. “He won’t tell me what the visions are, though.”

Lance clicked his tongue, shaking his head. “And he doesn’t use crystals? What a reckless idiot.”

Pidge rolled their eyes. “Trust me. I’ve been telling him the same thing for months now. He doesn’t like to show people he’s afraid of this stuff and he said wearing crystals and warding charms would tip the person off that he’s actually bothered.”

“Well, that’s stupid. I’d rather be paranoid than dead,” Lance said, as Hunk whispered a few incantations and charming the potion.

The mix of herbs and spices then wafted a garlicky smell, rather than just regular herbs. Hunk added a dash of more herbs, turning the bowl a few times and then grabbed a vial under the counter. He filtered out the essence of the potion and bottled it up.

“There you go. It should help him clear his mind of any outside influence and maybe tone down the hexing on his body,” he explained, handing it over to Lance. “And this one’s on the house from me. Tell Coran that.”

Lance’s mouth twitched with affection. “You like that Keith, huh?”

Hunk shrugged, chuckling. “He’s a funny guy. And I can tell _you_ like him.”

“Uh, what? What are you-,” Lance tried to argue, but Hunk gave him a smirk. He realized just what he had done and he bit his tongue in irritation.

“Ah, damn it,” he said, under his breath. “I forgot to phrase that differently. I did it again. Alright, well we’re going to go before you start spouting _all_ my secrets.”

Pidge looked between them, confused and Lance just pushed them back out the café.

“And what was that about?” they asked, looking over their shoulder. “What about secrets?”

Lance already felt the magic tighten around his tongue to keep the truth from falling from his lips. He shook his head instead.

“Nothing, nothing. Let’s go save Keith,” he said, deflecting.

Keith was sitting on the stool with Coran muttering with his hands hovering over his head. Lance carefully put the potion on the counter, waiting for Coran to notice their arrival. Keith had his eyes opened, looking at the two of them and seemed pretty impatient.

Coran paused, opening his eyes and frowning. “This is quite a troublesome hex.”

“I’ve got the potion,” Lance interrupted, pointing to the vial. “Hunk says that its on the house for him.”

Keith blinked at him. “Huh? Really?”

“I told you Hunk likes you. How are you-oh, uh….you’re still feeling bad,” Lance said, tripping up again and changing his wording.

Pidge looked at him weirdly again, but Keith just shrugged.

“I’m fine,” he said, casually.

Lance knew that Keith was lying, but they weren’t close enough for him to do anything different. Pidge hummed, seemingly comfortable enough to call him out on it.

“Yeah right, Coran what’s your take on it?” they asked.

Coran handed Keith the potion. “Drink this. It will probably be very bitter and herby. And about the hex, the magic that was imbued in the doll has attached itself to your own magic. Probably because whoever’s been harassing you has been able to curse you for months. Your magic recognizes the other person’s magic. This gave them the advantage to infiltrate, even with your protective crystals. However, the good news is that it still not that strong of magic. The illness and effects should be able to wear off in just a few days. Whoever did this, I would guess, is trying very hard to just warn you as of right now. Not necessarily harm you.”

Keith sighed with relief as he downed the potion. His nose wrinkled at the taste, but made no comment.

“Well, that’s good,” Lance offered, also relieved. He wasn’t quite sure why. “And did you happen to bring the letters?”

Keith nodded, pointing to the back rooms. “They were in my bag with the other objects.”

“Would you mind if we took a look at them, as well?” Coran asked, carefully. “I have connections to tracking mages that could possibly help whoever’s doing this. Do you happen to have any idea?”

“I have a few suspects that I’ve been checking out,” Pidge said, angrily. “Some people are very vocal about not liking Keith.”

“What have you-ah, I mean, maybe you could give an explanation for that?” Lance asked, cringing at how much he was messing up.

“I’m the brother of one of the most famous Garrison Academy professors ever,” Keith said, rolling his eyes. “People think I’m a charity case.”

“Oh, really? Who?” Lance asked, intrigued.

“Professor Takashi Shirogane,” Pidge answered, smug. “And you kind of are a charity case. You barely even go to classes anymore.”

“Can you blame me?” Keith fired back, looking more energized than before. “Whenever I go to class, I am around so many people that my head hurts and I get so many visions that my nose bleeds constantly. Plus, I just know whoever’s threatening me is in at least a few of my classes. I feel their hatred.”

Lance frowned, not liking that at all. Coran hummed, examining Keith further.

“Alright, well. I can do one more go at it to unbind the hex, but I believe you should just rest and take it easy for a few days until it blows over. Meditate and cleanse your aura and home with sage and keep the crystals on you at all times. If you get another threat, come straight here,” Coran instructed.

“Do you both feel safe at your apartment?” Lance asked, bothered. He realized what he actually said, hurrying to amend. “Ah, only if you…uh, feel comfortable answering that. Uh, I know that’s kind of personal…”

Coran gave him an exasperated look. Lance shrugged back, helplessly. Pidge looked at him critically.

“We should be fine,” Keith said, not concerned at all. “I may not have a bunch of crystals and whatever, but I do have telekinesis. I can throw tables without breaking a sweat.”

“That’s true. I’ve seen it,” Pidge agreed, chuckling. “Family game night is always pretty fun at our place.”

“Well, how about I send Lance and Hunk over to check on you two after their shifts. It’s a weekend, now. You can have a fun slumber party!” Coran said, beaming at them.

They all blinked at the man, stunned. Keith immediately went to reject, along with Lance.

“Oh, we really don’t need-,”

“That’s pretty forceful, I mean, I don’t want to intrude…”

Pidge, however, smirked. “I think it’s a great idea.”

The other boys immediately whipped their heads around in shock. Pidge winked at Keith, who turned a very delicate pink at the neck.

“What-are-are you sure?” Lance asked, on purpose this time.

Pidge nodded. “Yep! We can order pizza, watch dumb movies and you can baby-magic proof the apartment. We could use extra wards and enchantments.”

Keith narrowed his eyes at them. “We don’t need people coming in to do that…”

“Yeah, we do. We both suck at that. Lance seems pretty good at handling himself, so I say we should do it. Plus, it’s _my_ mailbox too. What if I was the one to get hexed instead of you, hm?” Pidge leaned over the counter in challenge.

Keith sunk down in guilt and he sighed. “Okay…fine. What time does your shifts end?”

Lance gulped nervously.

“Uh, I guess we’ll see you at eight thirty.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge is too smart for their own good and Keith is just so damn tired

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So i probably won't have too many notes in this fic, because i really want things to be a mystery and hints at the secrets are scattered through the story, so i don't want to accidentally spoil anything or give too much away in the notes  
> If you want to yell and scream about any theories you have in the comments, though totally feel free im super excited to see if anyone catches on to what i'm trying to hint at

“ _Why_ did you do that?” Keith growled at Pidge when they were at their apartment.

“Why did I do what, exactly?” they asked, smirking as they took off their shoes and dropping their bag on the couch.

“Invite them! You know I don’t like bringing strangers around a lot! I get tons of visions off them.”

Pidge headed over to their sad excuse of a kitchen and threw some trash away and cleaned off some of their more dysfunctional lifestyle. Keith slumped himself down on the couch and rubbed at his aching head.

“They’re not s _trangers._ This is Lance and Hunk. You like them, I know you do,” they said. “And you can’t deny we’re maybe in over our heads on this crazy stalker you have.”

Keith sighed. “Okay, maybe. But, that doesn’t mean we should just let in people we barely know. For all we know, either of _them_ could be my stalker.”

“You’re just all twitchy around Lance because you think he’s hot.”

“I can throw you out of a window without even moving. Don’t test me.”

Pidge snorted, finishing up and vaulting over to settle on the couch, legs crossing. They immediately opened their bag and pulled out their now fully cleansed laptop. They got to typing away, seeing what was damaged to their systems.

“How are you feeling?” Pidge asked, not even looking up from their typing.

“Better,” he said, not even lying. “The potion made it better. But, seeing as I guess we’ll have company, I should meditate and get my head clear.”

“Use those crystals to amplify. Shiro and Lance gave them to you, might as well use them. It’ll help.”

Keith waved his hand absently and headed to his room, calling for Kosmo to follow. He appeared at his side and he closed the door. He set up his usual meditation circle, bringing out his candles and then decided to add in the amplifying crystals.

He didn’t usually need to use crystals, always having such a strong inner sense of using his magic. He felt more in tune with himself when he was just meditating to control his mind. The crystals would add a layer that he wasn’t used to.

He changed into leggings and a tank top, taking off his gloves and pulling up his hair. He settled on the carpet, lighting the candles around him with a wave of his hand.

Kosmo sat on his hind legs on the other side of the candles, for magic support. Keith stared right into the flames of the white sage and lavender candle in front of him.

He breathed slowly in through his nose and out through his mouth, not too deep, not too shallow. His palms faced upwards on his knees and he could feel his magics under his skin moving up and down through his entire nervous system.

The candles around him sputtered and then their flames separated from the wicks, floating around his body except the one he was staring at.

Keith’s eyes unfocused from everything other than the flame, burning his retinas. He felt as the magics centered in his mind and felt the comings of another vision.

As usual, the vision was silent. It flitted through his mind on a reel. He recognized the scene from his own apartment, snapshots of Keith, Pidge, Hunk, and then settled on Lance. The others had been more muted, unfocused. But Lance’s face was in sharp clarity, every freckle and detail focused. The blue eyes were looking at something or someone with a warmth and affection. Keith couldn’t tell what any of them were wearing, which is something that frustrated him a little. That usually made it easier to recognize when a prophetic vision was going to be fulfilled.

The vision changed, turning into what he was becoming used to. Snapshots of Keith on the ground, crawling in wet grass. Blood on his back and body weak. A figure shrouded in blackness standing over him. Kosmo running through a forest, one he had never seen before.

But, suddenly, there was a new scene. A dripping wet Lance, face turning in fear and horror. He was running in a dark forest, similar to Kosmo. He had his mouth open, maybe yelling. His hand was open and in his palm was a floating light to help him.

And strangely, Keith noticed that he recognized the gloves he was wearing. Because they were his own.

He must have meditated for hours. He was trying to get more out of that new spin on the violent visions, but to no avail. He didn’t control where his visions went. After that, there was just more random snapshots of him, Lance, Shiro, Hunk, Pidge, even Coran and the woman Allura from the shop. Nothing too distinct. Some looked more in pain or distress, others they would be laughing or just talking to each other.

After enough time that he must have exhausted his magics, he breathed more purposefully to bring him back into himself. Grounding himself in the candles and crystals and Kosmo whined to ground him further. He opened and closed his eyes a couple of times, vision coming back into focus. He wiped at his sweaty forehead and shook out his limbs to get more feeling back.

Keith stood up and snuffed out the candles. He exited his door, then froze as the scene in the living room was different than usual.

_Ah shit, forgot they were coming over._

Lance and Hunk were sitting on the couch, laughing at something Pidge was saying, curled up in the hanging wooden chair. Pidge looked up and waved a piece of pizza.

“Keith! You’re done meditating!” they said, grinning at him. “Come be social for once!”

The guests turned to look at him. Lance blinked at him, then his eyes widened, turning away again. Hunk, however, smiled at him, warmly.

“Hey, man! What’s-uh, dude, your nose is bleeding…”

He jumped, hand coming up to wipe at his nose. He checked his fingers and confirmed it was true. He hurried into the bathroom, wetting his now completely pink hand towel that’s become his go-to nosebleed towel and wiping at his nose. He then just plugged it and dabbed.

“You okay?”

Keith turned, to see Lance standing in the doorway, looking nervous. Usually, he would just brush Lance off, but something seemed to compel him to tell the truth.

“Visions are pretty hard on me nowadays. I haven’t gotten nosebleeds this much since I was a kid,” he said, sighing. “I’m…pretty tired, really. But I’m not too fond of dreams.”

Lance nodded, tilting his head around to look Keith over. “Yeah, you look pretty out of it. Here, come. Sit and have some fun. We’ll keep a distance from you so you don’t accidentally get a vision. I’ve already set up some protective wards and charms.”

Keith followed along, keeping the towel under his nose.

“Get anything fun?” Pidge asked, casually. “Juicy hookups or anything?”

Keith rolled his eyes, sitting on the ground and tucking his legs under him.

“No, just…the usual. Nothing too alarming or important.”

“Does it hurt?” Hunk asked, pointing. “With the nosebleed and stuff.”

Keith shrugged. “It’s a bit more controlled when I’m meditating. It’s like I’m choosing to have a vision, instead of being forced to have one. So, less of a headache, but more nosebleed. It’s a give or take.”

Lance pointed to the coffee table next to Keith. “Eat some pizza. You must be hungry.”

Keith was hungry. Which is the only reason he took a piece. Obviously.

“So what’s the story with you guys?” Pidge asked, pointing between the two of them.

“What story?” Hunk asked, confused.

“Well, you know basically all there is to know about Keith, now. And you know enough about me. What about you?”

Lance hummed. “Well, you know I’m at the Academy. Hunk and I are best friends since…like forever. But, he graduated early last year. Left me all alone…”

Hunk grinned, sheepishly. “Sorry, buddy. But, Coran wanted me as a full-timer and I really like my job. Plus, like we get really good pay and benefits for working in a shop. I like a simple life, you know?”

“What are you studying for?” Keith asked, focused on Lance.

“Oh, I’m a water elemental and I’m studying to be a human mage representative to water culture species,” Lance said, smiling a little. “Pretty exciting stuff…”

Keith nodded, thinking that was a perfect fit. The guy was really good with people.

“What do you guys like to do? Like for fun,” Hunk asked, casually. “It’s not like you just sit around and worry about Keith’s stalker, right?”

“Might as well do that,” Pidge muttered. “But, no. Actually Keith is obsessed with regular human documentaries, which I really like too. So we usually just sit and snack while we watch a funny documentary.”

“Really?” Lance asked, grinning in delight at Keith. “Oh my Goddess, why? Human documentaries are so stupid, they’re almost all wrong.”

“That’s why I like them,” Keith explained, shrugging. “It’s funny to see them try to scientifically explain away obvious magical encounters and creatures. Like Mothman conspiracy theories? Hilarious.”

Lance and Hunk laughed out loud. Keith couldn’t help a small smile.

“Oh and Kosmo’s a thing of course,” Pidge said, pointing to Keith.

Keith called for his familiar with his magic and Kosmo suddenly appeared by his side, wagging his tail. He reached over and scratched him behind his ears and Kosmo’s tongue lagged.

Lance gasped, grinning wide and open. “That’s the _biggest_ familiar I’ve ever seen!”

Kosmo turned to look at him, cocking his head to see if he deemed Lance as safe. Keith waited, because he was curious to see what Kosmo thought of him.

Suddenly, he borked, tongue lagging again. Keith hummed, patting Kosmo’s head.

“He likes you.”

Lance seemed to actually lose tension, relieved. “Good. If he didn’t, pretty sure he could easily kill me. He’s huge…”

Keith chuckled, as Kosmo licked at his face. “He’s not like that. He’s just a big sweetheart.”

“Aw, that’s cute. By the way, where’s Blue?” Hunk said, turning to Lance.

Lance called for his familiar, who appeared in his lap. “Here she is. She likes to hang around the shop, until I call her.”

Kosmo and Blue stared at each other. Keith and Lance sat still, as their familiars searched through each other’s magic to see if they were compatible. Blue jumped to the coffee table, tail limp behind her. Kosmo stood and walked to the edge of the table and they slowly sniffed at each other.

Kosmo then gave Blue a little boop with his nose. Blue meowed, then bonked her little head against Kosmo’s, purring like a machine.

“Are you getting this on video?” Lance whispered to Hunk, voice cracking.

“Of course I am, this is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen…”

Keith glanced to see, indeed Hunk had his phone out and recording the interaction.

Kosmo sat down as Blue continued to smush her head against his and purring. Keith smiled, not denying that it was nice to see that their familiars got along so well. Usually, that meant that the mages would be magically compatible, too.

Not that it would matter to Keith that much if him and Lance were magically compatible.

“Aw…this is disgustingly adorable,” Pidge said, winking at Keith.

He twirled his finger and the hanging chair they were in spun really fast. Pidge squeaked in shock, as Lance and Hunk sputtered out surprised laughter.

They talked some more, late into the night. Keith could feel himself feeling the dregs of exhaustion, but he was still worried about sleeping. The last time he slept through the night without a nightmare was probably six months before.

He focused on Lance, in his natural element of being sociable and fun, telling stories and exaggerating the details, obviously.

Keith found he didn’t really mind his presence.

Lance was having a good time with Pidge and Keith.

He had to keep on top of how he was phrasing his words, which he doesn’t usually have to do much anymore. But, now that they were starting to become friends as a group, he tried to keep a close lip on his questions.

At some point, he went into the tiny kitchen to get Keith some water, so that he wasn’t dizzy from blood loss. Obviously.

He didn’t even notice he was followed.

“So, what’s your deal?”

He jumped and turned around, nearly shattering the glass in his hand against the counter. Pidge was leaning against the counter, suspicious.

Lance gulped, anxiously. “Deal? About…wha-ah, I mean- I don’t know what you mean.”

“See, right there! Whatever it is with you. I don’t know what…but it has something to do with secrets and stuff. You start a sentence, but you keep catching yourself and changing the wording. Most of the time, it seems to make the sentence less clear and make less sense. Which…isn’t how things go. Now, I first thought you were just quirky and weird, maybe had some kind of tick. But, now I don’t really think so. Something’s weird with you,” they said, narrowing their eyes. “And I’m not kidding when I tell you that if you’re actually some creep like Keith’s stalker that you will really meet my bad side…”

“No!” he said, immediately to defend himself. “I’m not, I swear!”

“Then what is it?” they prodded. “Is it just something weird with you? Or is it magic?”

Lance felt the magic tighten around his tongue and he twitched. “I-mm, uh, ah…nothing. It’s nothing.”

“That wasn’t convincing, you know,” Pidge said, dead pan. “Can you at least tell me…is it bad?”

He sighed with relief. “No. Nothing bad.”

They studied him for a few more seconds, then nodded. “Okay. Fine. I’ll trust you with this. Because I like you and Hunk. I want us to be friends. Plus, I think more friends will be good for Keith. He’s been all moody and distant for months.”

Lance lost the tension in his shoulders. “I like you guys, too. I promise I’m not any creep.”

Pidge left and Lance cursed at himself under his breath.

_These people might get too close, too fast._


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things escalate with Keith's stalker and the gang gets involved

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: a reader has informed me that 'smudging' and 'white sage' practices is an effectively sacred Indigenous practice of medicine and spirituality and i might have mentioned those things in a few places throughout, because it has become a commodity for non-Native peoples, such as in spirituality and cleansing practices and was everywhere in my research
> 
> Please, please point these moments out for me!! I and these characters are not Indigenous people and therefore should not have those practices!!

Lance and Hunk kept going over to Pidge and Keith’s apartment through the whole weekend, checking up and then in the morning, going back to work.

Come Monday morning, Lance was actually kind of sad that he wasn’t going to check up on them.

He puttered around his tiny Academy apartment, brushing his teeth and making coffee that was way too strong. He turned on some music, hating the silence of living alone and got ready for classes. He made sure to check that he had his paper that was due and all his textbooks.

Lance pulled out his phone, then nearly spat out his coffee to see a text.

From Keith.

He hurried to open it, noting that it was time-stamped from nearly an hour before.

_Jesus, this guy gets up at barely five am?_

Keith:

_> Thanks btw. For checking up on us. _

Lance smiled, feeling warm and proud of himself. Keith was pretty prickly at first, but turns out, he was just like his familiar. Big and intimidating on the outside, a sweetheart on the inside.

But he read the next one right after with a bit of confusion.

 **_>_ ** _A_ _re you okay?_

He hurried to text back.

Lance:

 **_>_ ** _no probs, man! happy to help! and yeah, totally fine. things still going okay for you? any more creepy stalker nonsense?_

Keith’s ellipses bubble popped up, then stopped, then kept going. This made Lance pause, frowning. His stomach dropped in fear.

Keith:

**_>_ ** _I'm_ _fine_

Lance clicked his tongue. _Liar._

Lance:

 **_>_ ** _dude, did something happen? do you need me to come over? do you have your crystals? is pidge okay?_

He quickly finished up his coffee, hurrying back to his room and changing. A simple faded blue t-shirt and dark wash jeans and usual sneakers. His phone buzzed again.

Keith:

 **_>_ ** _I_ _literally told you I’m fine. We’re both fine. It’s not that bad._

“Not that bad…” he read again, scoffing.

Lance:

_> are you sure? _

Keith:

_> Yes, don’t worry about me. Just stay safe._

Lance:

_> fine. but come by the shop after classes later. im gonna be paranoid all week if you dont_

Keith didn’t read this one for a while, so Lance packed up his bag and headed out to get to the Academy. He ran down the steps of his apartment building and walked in the still warm mid-September weather. There was the usual amount of people on the sidewalk, mostly students as his apartment was only a block away from the campus.

He checked his phone again, seeing Keith had responded.

Keith:

_> Ok. But only for Hunk’s coffee._

Lance chuckled.

Lance:

_> ya know what, thats fair_

The Garrison Academy, on the outside to normal humans for advanced arts degrees, for those that actually know about it, for magics and mages. It was a fairly innocuous campus, similar to most American universities, with gray cinder block buildings to those that don’t know about the glamour. For the actual students, however, as soon as you pass the glamour field, you see that it’s a very old, stone-brick campus with fairy lights and multiple types of magical creatures that walk around. Familiars would walk along to classes, unattended.

He couldn’t focus in any classes whatsoever. He would fidget, imagining all kinds of horrible hexes and threats that Keith could have been getting. What if someone really is trying to harm him? What if they’re too late? What if this person tried something that’s too much for them to help?

After his classes were over, Lance was seriously anxious.

He left the Academy, hurrying down the steps and narrowly avoiding stepping on a lizard familiar.

“Ah, sorry!” he called back to it. It hissed at him.

Lance constantly checked his phone to see if Keith had texted back, but no. Left on read.

He decided to risk it and opened up a text thread to Pidge. They didn’t have their shared class on Mondays, so he didn’t see them that day.

Lance:

_> hey, did something happen this morning? keith was evasive when i asked if anything more happened with his creepy stalker_

Pidge responded within a few seconds.

Pidge:

_> another letter. this one was super wacked. i dont want to say anything more. keith was majorly wigged. _

Lance felt his anxiety spike. Keith was always so dismissive about the danger from this creep. If he had been freaked by a letter, not even another cursed object, that made Lance really nervous.

Altea Books and Charms was pretty close to the Academy, only about a fifteen-minute walk. He hurried down the sidewalks and across streets, then breathed a sigh of relief at the familiar storefront. It was his safe space.

Lance opened the door, checking the people around, seeing who was hanging about. He noted two women that he actually knew by name talking about the candles next to the shelves.

He headed for the counter, that was currently manned by Allura. She brightened by his entrance.

“Lance! How was classes?” she asked, kindly.

“Eh, the usual…”

“Lance? Oh good, Lance!”

One of the women said, hurrying around the shelves. She was a higher up of one of those queer wiccan groups, Nyma. She was bisexual, not a lesbian though. Lance had found that one out pretty early on when they met, because she immediately had flirted with him to get better prices.

And he definitely fell for it. Don’t judge him, alright? She was gorgeous.

“Okay, what’s better for meditation?” she asked, holding up two candles. “We’re having a prayer circle tomorrow under the full moon.”

Lance smiled at her, politely. “Lavender. It's the easiest and keeps the air purified.”

“See? Told you!” she said, whipping around to glare at her friend. “’Eucalyptus’, you’re such an amateur.”

The friend rolled her eyes. “It works too! Plus, Diamond Moonlover is allergic to lavender!”

Lance bit his lip, trying very hard not to laugh aloud at the name. He glanced at Allura, who was breathing very deeply through her open lips. Her mouth was twitching. He cleared his throat, patting Nyma on the shoulder.

“Eucalyptus does work, if you need a replacement for lavender. Allura will ring you up. I’ve got to get ready for my shift. Good to see you!” he said, hurrying behind the counter and into the back rooms. He stepped right into Coran’s office, dropping his bag in the chair in front of the man’s desk.

“If I ever tell you that I want to name my child ‘Diamond Moonlover’, shoot me on sight,” he said, laughing.

Coran gave him a confused look. “Why would you do that?”

“I wouldn’t,” he said, waving a hand. “But Nyma’s friend apparently got deep with some witchy pagan naming.”

The man hummed, nodding. “Strong name. Very reminiscent of naming our mice.”

Lance chuckled. He checked his phone. Pidge sent another message.

Pidge:

_> keith and i are on our way to show you the letter. i talked him into it._

He sat up to attention.

“What’s going on?” Coran asked, intrigued.

“Keith and Pidge are on their way. Something happened with the stalker that got Keith all freaked, apparently,” Lance explained, standing up and heading back out front.

Allura had rung up the girls already, looking bored against the counter. Lance patted her on the shoulder.

“You’re relieved of duty. Go back and do some more work on Keith’s cursed talismans and letters,” he said, sitting on the stool, nervously.

He wanted this to be over for Keith as soon as possible. Something about this was getting way too weird.

Allura gave him an interested look. “Okay…”

She went back behind the beaded curtain and Lance pulled out a few calming crystals. He didn’t want to get so nervous that he forgot to reign himself in. He called for Blue, who appeared right on the counter next to him. He did a few calming and centering spells, fingers on the crystals.

His magic churned and wove through his muscles and swirled through his mind. It brought more peace and clarity to his mind, easing some of his anxiety.

Blue purred next to him, offering solace.

Lance finished his small cleansing session, just in time for the doorbell to ring. He opened his eyes, noting Pidge and Keith’s uncomfortable expressions. Keith was nervously looking around, especially to windows.

“Alright, come on. Tell me what’s going on,” Lance said, waving them in.

Pidge walked forward first, then sighed as Keith looked at the door again.

“Keith.”

The guy grimaced, then walked in further, digging through his bag. He pulled out a yellow and water-stained envelope. His anxious eyes met Lance’s, then carefully handed it over.

“It…wasn’t just a letter this time,” Keith said, reluctantly.

Lance looked at the front of the envelope, noting a swirling cursive ‘Keith Kogane’ on the front. No address, no stamp, no anything else other than his name. He opened it, warily. He didn’t feel any distinct black magic hexing the paper or anything.

He pulled out a folded piece of paper, unfolding it.

His stomach dropped.

The entire paper was covered in scratchy letters in bright red ink. One sentence over and over again.

_‘YoU ShOulDn’T hAve BrOugHT HiM iNtO ThIs’_

He slowly opened the envelope, to see another piece of paper in there. He pulled out what was actually a polaroid picture.

“Oh…” he breathed out.

It was obviously from outside the window of the shop. In the center was Lance and Keith. It was from the other day, when he was helping Keith with getting crystals.

And Lance’s face was completely scratched out.

He turned the polaroid over. In thick black marker were the words:

**YOU’RE MINE**

****

“Well, uh…that’s not good,” Lance said, weakly, feeling the hair on the back of his neck stand up. His hands started to tremble with fear.

“Listen, maybe this isn’t anything real. Maybe this person is just trying to scare me. But, I don’t want to risk it with you. I shouldn’t have told any of you. I’m sorry,” Keith said, turning away. “I’ll deal with this on my own. You don’t have to worry about me anymore.”

Lance’s head whipped up in shock, then he leaned forward to grab Keith’s bag to hold him still.

“Uh, no. You’re not. If this freak is serious, then that means I’m already a target. They’ve been actually following you and knows this shop. And obviously you’re in major danger. You can’t do this alone. It’s too dangerous. We can help. I-I _want_ to help,” he said, desperately. “How do-ah, uh, I would feel horrible if something actually happened to you and I just let you go because I got a little creeped out.”

Pidge patted Keith on the arm. “He’s right. And you should really tell the administration. Get some actual authority on the issue. This is an actual threat. And to someone other than you.”

Keith sighed, resigned. “Okay. Fine. I’ll call Shiro.”

“Tell him to come here,” Lance said. “We can work with him to see if he knows the handwriting. And if the magic is something that’s familiar. Coran and Allura are still doing their thing. You can go back to the café and tell Hunk, too.”

Keith gave him one last guilty look before heading back with Pidge and he sent Blue to follow him. Lance smiled at him, not at all concerned about his budding friendship will put him in danger.

Well, maybe a _little_ concerned about the danger.

He looked at the polaroid again, zeroing in on Keith’s soft expression while talking to him. He turned it back over, staring at the words.

Someone was obviously really fixated on Keith. When Lance was hearing the story before, it sounded likely to be some jealous classmate that didn’t like Keith and wanted to scare him. But, this added a whole new layer of creepy to it.

He looked out the windows again, every single face that passed by a possible suspect.

“Well, Lance. Did Keith and Pidge come by? Tell you what was going on?” Coran asked, coming out from his office.

Lance showed the letter and polaroid without a word. Coran’s eyes widened and he immediately snatched them out of his hands, looking between them a bunch of times. His mustache wrinkled as his lips pursed.

“Oh my…” he breathed out, alarmed.

He looked back at Lance, horrified. “Has anything happened to you? Have you gotten anything?”

Lance shook his head. “No. Nothing. The only thing that’s threatened me is this thing that Keith got. But, uh…still pretty creeped. Because whoever’s after Keith is actually following him.”

Coran frowned, very bothered. “We need to tell actual authority figures….the Academy maybe. This is very concerning.”

“Keith’s older brother is a professor at the Academy. He’s on his way. But, uh…what do you think we should do?” Lance asked, completely on purpose.

Coran turned and leaned his back against the counter, looking over the letter and picture.

“I’m not certain. I’ll give an emergency call to my contact of a tracking mage. He might be able to track the magic through the talismans,” he said, quickly. “If he can’t help, we might have to turn this over to Academy security. But, we must hope that alerting the authorities won’t trigger them into escalating.”

Lance shivered at the word ‘escalating’.

_I really hope that doesn’t happen_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> from here on out, it's gonna get hella creepy and there's gonna be some warnings on chapters containing sensitive topics, but i'm only vaguely putting them in the tags because, again don't want to spoil anything


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith gets reinforcements and support, finally. And of course he doesn't like it

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: KLANCE SLUTS GUESS WHO MADE A FRIEND  
> there's going to be art added to this made by a new mutual Sony at rispen.tumblr.com  
> https://rispen.tumblr.com/post/626354659122200576/show-chapter-archive  
> Go check out their first sketch!!

Keith was angry and frustrated. Also, unimaginable guilty and….

Maybe sort of terrified.

He called his brother in the bathroom of the shop. As usual, the man picked up within a single ring.

“Keith? Is everything okay?”

He sighed, already exhausted thinking how Shiro was going to react.

“I’ve been keeping something from you,” he said, picking at his fingerless gloves. “But, it’s gotten worse. It’s…maybe dangerous.”

Shiro paused, then sounded quite alarmed. “What happened? Where are you? Is it drugs?”

“No, not drugs,” Keith said, nearly laughing at the absurd normality of Shiro’s fears. “Do you know the bookstore? On Rosemary? Altea Books?”

“Yeah, I’ve been there a few times. For supplies,” Shiro said, not really getting it. “Why? What does that have to do with anything?”

“I’m there right now. Come and we’ll explain everything.”

“Okay, on my way right now,” he said, sounding like he was getting up immediately.

“Tell Lance-uh, the guy at the counter, who you are. He’ll know what to do,” he said. “See you in a few.”

“Bye, kiddo.”

He hung up and headed back to the café. He sat down at this usual spot at the bar (which he thought was strange that he even _had_ a usual spot), then rubbed at his aching head.

“Hey, it’s going to be okay, alright?” Hunk said to him, passing him a mug of coffee. “I’m throwing in a special lemon cake, too. Here.”

The plate slid over and he gave Hunk a twitch of a smile in thanks. He sipped at his coffee. Pidge looked over at him, worried.

“Shiro’s coming, right?” they asked, nervously.

Keith nodded. “On his way right now. He’s…not going to be happy that I kept this quiet so long.”

“Oh come on, it can’t-,” Hunk started to say, before Keith felt the usual sharp pain at the front of his brain. He hissed in a breath, slamming down his mug heavily and putting his fist against his temple.

His eyes closed on its own and he saw a full scene of a vision.

It was another one of Keith in the grass. But, this time he was splayed out like a ragdoll at the bottom of a hill. His face was pale and hair wet against his head. Blood was on his temple and under his nose. His leg was grotesquely bent at the calf, definitely broken.

He opened his eyes, his heart pounding in horror and his breathing ragged.

“Oh, shit. That was a bad one, wasn’t it?” Pidge said, grabbing at his shoulder.

Keith took a few deep breaths to lose the panic and hyperventilating. He grimaced, checking under his nose. His fingers came away red with blood.

“Ah, fuck…”

Hunk gave him a stack of napkins and he shoved a few in a ball under his nostrils. He looked over his shoulder to see that many of the patrons was giving him strange and wary looks.

“Whatever, who cares about them?” Pidge noticed his anxiety. “What happened? What did you see?”

Keith shook his head. “It’s nothing. I didn’t recognize them.”

Pidge gave him an unimpressed look. “You’ve been getting nosebleed visions more and more. You know I don’t believe that it’s nothing.”

He sighed. “I’m…handling it, okay? Nothing you need to worry about.”

“Well, that’s not healthy. You’ve been keeping all this in the entire time? Come on, man…” Hunk said, frowning.

Keith glared, his temper flaring up. “My visions are personal. I don’t have to tell anyone unless I need to. They aren’t actual prophecies. They don’t always happen. The future changes constantly. Even if something is… _concerning…_ doesn’t mean I always have to run to someone, telling every detail. Trust me, if I need anyone to know a vision, I will tell them.”

They both gave him worried looks. Keith ignored them as he finished his coffee quickly and his cake. He kept a wad of blood-stained napkins under his nose.

The door of the café opened suddenly. They all turned and Shiro stood in the doorway, breathing hard as though he ran there.

Keith realized he probably did run.

He stood up and gestured to Pidge to follow. They met him in the middle of the café.

“Is it a vision?” Shiro asked, pointing to the wad of bloody napkins. “Is that what’s going on? Did you see something?”

Keith shook his head. “No, not that. Come on, we’ll go talk to Coran and Allura. I’ll explain everything.”

In Coran’s tiny, cramped office was Allura, Keith, Pidge, Shiro and Lance.

Coran was sat behind the desk, Shiro leaned against the wall opposite, Allura sat on a filing cabinet behind Coran’s desk, Keith sat in a chair between Coran’s desk and Shiro, Pidge sat on the ground, back against the desk and Lance stood in the doorway, constantly checking to see if someone came into the shop.

Shiro held a few letters, serious look on his face. He quickly read through them, slowly getting more and more obviously enraged.

All the rest of them looked to see his reactions, nervously.

Keith was anxiously picking at his gloves, nose finally stopped bleeding. He was staring at Shiro’s every miniscule change in expression.

The man took a long deep breath, lowering the letters. His eyes settled on Keith, sharp and focused. His long scar stood up from his crinkled, furious face.

“ _How_ could you not tell me?”

Keith flinched, shrinking in on himself. It was as though he wasn’t a twenty-two-year-old adult anymore and he was a kid again, his brother disappointed in his antics.

“I thought it wasn’t anything serious, okay?” he said, defensively. “You know I’ve gotten that kind of shit since I was a kid. I’m used to this stuff. I thought it was just that again.”

The others that didn’t know everything of his backstory looked confused or worried by that. Shiro sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Keith, this isn’t some cowardly childhood bully. This person has been threatening you and hexing you…for _how_ long now?” Shiro asked, frustrated.

“Three months,” Pidge answered, not giving Keith a chance to lie.

“ _Thre-_ , Goddess, Keith…” Shiro said, disbelieving. “What changed, huh? Why did you choose _now_ to tell me?”

“Because this person has threatened Lance, now,” Coran answered, showing the polaroid. “Keith came to us to relieve a hex that made him ill, telling us about the situation. Lance and our barista Hunk have been checking in on them all weekend. It seems as though, whoever this is, must be following Keith and added Lance as a target.”

Shiro turned to look at Lance, who had tensed at the mention of that addition. Lance gave him a nervous smile and wave.

“Hi there…uh, by the way, totally love your work on interplanetary astrological charting…” Lance said, giving him finger guns.

Shiro looked surprised. “You read that?”

Lance grimaced, as though caught. “No…I kind of read the blurb on you from the Academy website. Wanted to impress you…”

Keith snorted, then cleared his throat. Shiro gave him another withering look. Lance looked between them, then hurried on.

“But, uh, in Keith’s defense, we didn’t really treat it super seriously at first, either. I mean, we were definitely more serious than Keith was, but we didn’t exactly jump to ‘really dangerous psycho’ either,” he said, quickly.

“Hey!” Keith said, betrayed. “I was serious! I just thought I could handle it!”

“None of this is helping, now. Yes, Keith was wrong to keep it quiet. But, the time now is to work to find out who is after him and how to apprehend them. This could a very dangerous individual and if we don’t work fast, we may lose the advantage of numbers,” Allura said, completely no-nonsense.

Shiro blinked at her, then nodded. “Yes. You’re right.”

“I’ve contacted someone who I think can help track the black magic from the cursed talismans. I’m going to meet him now. I’m taking one of the objects with me,” Coran said, standing up. “Allura will watch over the store.”

He went over and opened a drawer, pulling out a jar that had one of the cursed straw dolls in it. He grabbed a leather shoulder bag next to the desk and then headed out of the office door.

“Okay. I’ll get some Academy security on the case,” Shiro said, taking out his phone. “I’ll send pictures of the handwriting to see if anyone recognizes it. Keith, stay in the open at the front of the shop with Lance. Pidge, call Matt and ask him if you can stay with him. Tell him that I said you need to.”

Keith could only follow his advice. He felt…ridiculous. Like he was just a kid, always running to Shiro when things got tough.

Shiro stayed in the office and Pidge headed out the door to stand in the window outside. Keith saw them wave their hand to muffle their conversation from prying ears. Allura went back into the back office, working on harder cursed talismans.

Keith and Lance settled against the counter, Lance sitting on the stool. He glanced at Keith, concerned.

“Are-uh, you can tell me how you’re doing. If you want,” he said, stumbling over his words again.

Keith ran an exhausted hand over his face. “It feels like overkill. Like it really will be just some jackass trying to scare me. And everyone gets worked up for nothing.”

It was a sort of lie. He didn’t think some random person that he went to school with would go this far. Keith was definitely worried. But, mostly for Lance. It was one thing to threaten him, but to threaten someone innocent? Not even someone connected to him that long? That was one step too far.

“I’m sorry,” Keith said, again. “You should never have been caught up in this.”

Lance hummed, summoning Blue to the counter and petting her head. “It’s not your fault. Some psycho is after you. I’d rather you have told us all, instead of just keep it to yourself.”

“But now-,” Keith was about to say, when the door opened with a ring.

They both turned to see a group of people, with an entirely ethereal being at the front. Keith froze in surprise, as the man with long, flowing white hair walked around the shop. He was wearing a pristine cotton white button-down shirt with thin dress pants rolled at the ankles. His piercing golden eyes swept over the two of them, analyzing them both.

The girls behind him were all talking, giggling to each other. Two of them were hanging off each other, one had a calico cat in her arms and the other looked the most normal, just bored and uninterested.

Blue suddenly meowed, very loudly.

Lance looked at her, then glanced over to the group.

“All?” he whispered to her.

Blue chirped, eyes glued to the group.

He hummed, petting her. “Hi, welcome to Altea Books and Charms. Come ask if you need any help.”

None of them paid Lance any mind. Keith narrowed his eyes at them. _Assholes._

Since they had been talking about something as sensitive as Keith’s stalker, they didn’t know what to do except stand in silence. Keith drummed his fingers on the counter, awkwardly.

The gorgeous man turned his attention back to them, then smirked.

“Don’t I know you from somewhere?”

Keith looked over, surprised.

“Uh…I don’t know. I’ve never seen you before,” he said. “I go to the Academy, though.”

The man hummed, nodding. “Yes, that must be it. You’re quite memorable. Keith, right?”

Keith glanced to Lance, who shrugged. He nodded, warily. “Yeah. That’s me. And you are?”

The man smiled, politely. “Lotor. I believe we sat next to each other in Professor West’s class last semester. You are quite impressive.”

“Right,” Keith said, awkwardly. “Uh, sorry I have a shit memory, I guess…”

Lotor waved a hand, dismissively. “No matter.”

Keith nodded, awkwardly looking around, wondering if he should say something else. Lance snickered at him under his breath and Keith subtly kicked at his shin. Lotor decided to walk towards him, now very close to the counter.

“Do you work here?” Lotor asked, curiously.

Keith blinked, not thinking Lotor would still talk to him.

“Uh…no. Just…visiting some friends,” Keith said, gesturing to Lance with his chin.

“Hi, I’m Lance. If like…you cared at all,” Lance said, putting his head on his open hand, batting his eyelashes.

Lotor nodded at him. “Nice to meet you. So, _you_ work here?”

Keith glanced to the girls that came with Lotor. None of them cared about them talking to each other. It just felt all weird. Lance was smiling at Lotor, pleasantly. Keith frowned, not liking that, either.

Lotor set a hand on the counter, leaning closer to Lance.

“You’re quite impressive yourself, aren’t you?” Lotor asked, cocky. “You must be related to a fae or siren…such eyes…”

Lance bashfully waved a hand, feigning a blush. “Oh…please…”

Keith’s lip curled. “Are you going to _buy s_ omething or….?”

A golden eye looked over, then he winked at Keith. He blinked in even more confusion. Lance snorted.

“Don’t mind him. He’s grouchy,” he said, crossing his arms and leaning closer to Lotor. “But, I w _ould_ recommend some of those love charms…although, I’m sure you wouldn’t need them.”

Lotor chuckled, low and deep in his throat. “Well, aren’t you something? Might you be interested in getting a drink?”

Lance hummed, as Keith gaped in bewilderment. “I _might_ be interested. If I get stronger feelings, it would be nice to have your number to be able to tell you about it.”

Lotor grinned, waving a finger to Lance’s phone on the counter. Automatically, Lotor’s contact popped up. Keith couldn’t help a roll of his eyes.

_Definite asshole._

He wasn’t sure if he was thinking of Lance as the asshole or Lotor. Either one worked in the moment.

Lance looked impressed by the move, then nodded. “That works.”

“Lotor, if you’re done now…we got what we need,” one of the girls said. The one that looked bored and uninterested.

The big one that had a smaller, skinnier girl hanging off her arm came over, holding a bunch of stuff. Lance took them all, ringing up some herbs, some ingredients for potions, some crystals and strangely, a book on advanced runes.

He told them the price. Keith was almost expecting Lotor to keep flirting to bring it down, because it actually came out pretty expensive, but he just handed over a few bills. Lance was about to calculate the change, until Lotor spoke up.

“Keep the difference,” he said, sly.

Lance looked surprised, counting it out again. “Uh, that’s going to be nearly a thirty-dollar tip, though…”

Lotor hummed, looking Lance up and down, completely like a douchebag.

“You earned it. I look forward to hearing from you soon…”

A yellow eye winked at Lance one last time, then studied Keith as they all walked out.

Lance sighed, dreamily as Lotor walked by the window. “Wow. Now _that’s_ a gentleman.”

Keith wanted to break something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> btw, if there is ever a point where someone calls the stalker a 'psycho', that's because i feel like they would describe the stalker that way. i'm not making a commentary about people who are clinically 'psychotic' or with 'psychosis'. anyone with mental illness are much more likely to be a danger to themselves than others


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Lance decide to do something about their safety at home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so things are different with this story now, I'm going to have slower updates 1-2 weeks, because this has become a collaboration with the artist Rispen on tumblr!!  
> The first two chapters have art added now, so if you haven't seen them go check it out!!  
> Until Sony is caught up with the updates, I'll keep it to 2 week updates and then when they're caught up, I'll change it to 1 week

Lance kept a close eye on all the windows and energy that entered the store, searching for black magic or malintent. Keith stayed at the counter next to him his entire shift, to which they ended up just playing games of tic-tac-toe and Keith even helped stock some new inventory.

“You should get paid for today,” Lance said, at nearing the end of his shift. “You basically worked.”

Keith smiled a little. “It’s only been a few hours. And Shiro had to run off to the Academy. He said that if I went home alone, that he’d let whoever it is that’s stalking me kill me.”

“Well, what are you-ah, um…” Lance came up lost on how to phrase what he had to say. “Do you…uh,” he hummed. “You…can tell me your ideas of…uh, what you’re going to do about where you’re going to stay…”

Keith gave him a strange look, probably because that totally made Lance look crazy. Lance laughed, nervously. Keith seemed to brush it off, returning to stocking the new charms.

“I don’t want to go stay with Shiro, even though I know he’s going to try and make me. It just…feels too much like I’m a kid again crawling into his parent’s bed after a nightmare. I’m an adult. I can take care of myself,” Keith said, firmly. “What about you? Where do you live?”

Lance chewed on his bottom lip, anxiously. “I actually live alone in an Academy apartment…”

Keith looked at him, alarmed. “You live alone? That’s way too dangerous. The person’s after you, too. Do you have anyone to stay with?”

“Hunk lives with his girlfriend like a twenty-minute subway ride away. And Coran and Allura stays upstairs in the connecting flat. I don’t want to bother them too much, especially if its dangerous. Shay doesn’t know anything about this and Hunk wants to keep it that way. And the shop flat is pretty small…” he said, shrugging. “But, we don’t know if the creep knows where I live, too.”

Keith fell silent, thoughtful. They finished stocking and Lance checked his pocket watch. Yeah, he had a pocket watch like a grandpa. He liked it.

“Alright, I’m scheduled until eight thirty tonight. Forty-five more minutes…” he said, sighing. “I hate the end of the shift. Time goes so slow…”

Keith chuckled, nudging him with his shoulder. “Another game of tic-tac-toe?”

“Hell yeah.”

They settled back at the counter, pulling out the two bowls of shiny decorative rocks that Coran had got for the regular customers. Lance handed over the black rocks to Keith and Lance took out the paper that they drew a board on.

“X goes first,” Lance said, smiling at Keith.

Keith casually moved a finger through the air, placing a stone in the middle of the board.

“Predictable,” Lance said, huffing.

They went at it, but after so many games of it, they could easily predict each other’s moves. They ended up at another tie.

“We need to find another game…” Keith said, sighing.

“Goddess, I’m bored. You would never think hiding away from a possibly murderous lunatic would be so boring…” Lance said, groaning. Keith gave him an unamused look. Lance shrugged. “Too soon?”

Keith rolled his eyes. Lance was about to suggest another game, when the door dinged open. They both looked up at Coran’s incredibly concerned face. Lance’s stomach dropped out.

“What’d you find out?” Lance asked, nervously.

Coran nervously pinched his mustache. “He couldn’t find the person at all. The magic is very potent and exact. This person knows what they’re doing. It’s advanced. This rarely happens. Whoever this is…is incredibly dangerous.”

Keith tensed next to Lance. “Well, uh, did you get anything? Like a magic fingerprint?”

“If this person were to do any spell in front of either of us, maybe Allura too, we could recognize the trace. But, as of now, that’s all we could do,” he said, dejected. “I’m very sorry I couldn’t be more help, my boys.”

“It’s okay, you did the best you could,” Lance said, smiling kindly to his godfather.

“Lance, will you be safe to go home alone? Should we make up the couch for you?” Coran asked, anxiously.

“Oh, uh…” he hesitated. “I don’t really think….”

“It’s okay. I’m going to stay with him.”

Lance whipped his head over in surprise to Keith’s determined face. Keith kept a sharp focus to Coran. Lance wondered if sometime this day Keith had offered to do that and Lance somehow forgot (as if he were to forget something like _that_ ).

Keith glanced at him, then his eyes translated a question. Lance lost the tension in his shoulders. He looked back at Coran, nodding.

“Yeah, we decided that if the creep is after both of us, might as well just protect each other. No need to put anyone else at risk, right?”

Coran frowned, still bothered. “But, what about-?”

“And my familiar is a wolf-dog hybrid. He’s a huge guard dog,” Keith said, shrugging. “That’ll keep most people from trying anything.”

Coran seemed appeased with that. “Okay. That sounds reasonable. But, if _anything_ happens, anything at all, you call me or Professor Shirogane, alright?”

Lance nodded. “Promise.”

“So, uh…welcome to casa de Lance!”

He opened the door, waved his hand to turn on the floating fairy lights and revealed the apartment. Keith followed in, after having gone back to his apartment and packing a small bag. Kosmo followed along too. He walked in, looking around, not having a strong reaction.

“It’s nice…”

Lance snorted, closing and locking the door. He put an extra protective ward over the door, a magical sheen erupted over it.

“Uh, I don’t have an extra room, but you can take my bed,” Lance said, pointing to his room. “I’ll take the couch.”

Keith looked at him, as if to say: ‘you’re serious?’. “I’m taking the couch. I basically invited myself over.”

Lance pursed his lips, then sighed. “Okay, fine. Here, call for take-out. I’d cook for you, but uh, I’m pretty tired, you know.”

He handed over a list of phone numbers of nearby restaurants. Keith took it and set his bag down on the couch, sitting on the armrest. Lance headed back to his room, closing the door behind him, then slowly let out a breath.

_Well, this is a development._

Lance was floored on how much his life seemed to have changed since meeting Keith by happenstance. He grabbed fresh comfortable clothes, then headed back out of his room. Keith was about to dial on his phone.

“What did you choose?” Lance asked, not needing to change his wording, thinking that wasn’t anything important.

“Chinese. What do you want?”

“Oh, get me fried dumplings, fried rice and orange chicken…um, and a large box of chow mein,” he said, excited for food.

Keith laughed, surprised. “What? You eating for an army or something?”

“I always order tons of food so I can just munch on the leftovers over the week. I take it for lunch and stuff,” Lance explained, shrugging.

Keith blinked, then frowned and looked down. “That makes sense. Why don’t I do that?”

Lance chuckled. “Order food. I’m going to take a shower.”

He went in the bathroom that was right next to his room and he took a good, long hot shower. He wanted to relax his tense muscles and his aching legs from standing so long at work. He charmed his hair and products like always. He lathered on the best smelling soaps he had.

For clearing his mind, of course.

Once he was done, he dressed in the clothes he had gotten and kept a small towel around his neck.

When he headed back out of the bathroom, Keith was sitting on the couch and petting Kosmo’s head right next to him. He was rubbing at his head with his other hand. Lance sat on the armrest, bending over to look at Keith’s expression.

He was glassy eyed and grimacing. Blood stained under his nose.

“Vision…” Lance said, a statement, not a question.

Keith looked over, then away. “Maybe.”

“Hm. Do you want something to drink? Tea, water, uh…I think I may have some vodka,” he said, listing what kind of drinks he had.

Keith blinked, surprised. “Uh, tea would be good, I guess.”

Lance nodded, heading into the kitchen and putting on the kettle. He waved a finger that brought down his collection of teas.

“What kind?”

Keith leaned against the counter at the island, still seemingly disoriented. He frowned, wondering what to ask for. Lance decided to make the decision for him.

“Chamomile it is!” he said, getting to work.

He used a few tricks he picked up from Coran and Hunk, adding some calming herbs and potion ingredients. He charmed the brew, then made it a teabag.

They both froze in fear at a loud knock at the door. Then Lance checked the ward.

“Oh, right. Takeout. We’re dumb,” Lance said, sighing. “And probably needing therapy after this.”

Keith called for Kosmo to follow him as he went and opened the door. He talked with the guy for a little bit, then came back with two huge bags of food. He set them on the counter and Lance poured him a cup of the tea.

“Here you go, what do I owe you for the food?” he said, as he handed over the mug.

“Nothing, I paid,” Keith said, casually.

Lance blinked in surprise. “What? No, man that’s way too much. I got like four main dishes.”

“I’m paying you back for…everything. It’s the least I can do after bringing you into this,” he said, heading to the hallway. “I’m going to clean myself up.”

Lance stood, agape. He didn’t even know how to argue with the guy, he was just so casual and sincere. He shook his head, then poured himself a cup of tea. He needed to calm down, too.

He called for Blue, thinking it was best to have her there for extra protection, too. She appeared on the ground and meowed at him.

“Hungry?” he asked her. “Have you not eaten yet?”

She meowed again, more insistently. He went to the fridge, getting out a can of cat food he kept in case Blue needed it. She usually hunted on her own in the city, as she was pretty capable. He opened it and set it down, Blue going for it daintily.

“That’s my pretty girl. Good kitty…”

She snorted, as if laughing at him. Lance grinned, petting her on the head.

He set up the food that he wanted to eat that night on the counter, getting out Keith’s food and setting it next to him. The rest he put in the fridge for the next few days.

Keith came out of the bathroom, blood-free. He was still looking at Lance strangely as he sat and opened his box.

“Why didn’t you ask me about what I saw in my vision?” Keith asked, after some peaceful time eating.

Lance looked over, then hummed. “Visions are pretty personal. And you seem to be kind of upset by it. I don’t want you to tell me because I forced it out of you. I want you to tell me because you trust me and want me to know. Plus, I’m sure too many people have been bothering you about them your entire life.”

Keith stared down into his lo mein, picking at it, thoughtful.

“Do you want to know?”

Lance mouth twitched, back to eating. “I can’t deny that I’m curious. I’m always curious. But I’ve learned my lesson throughout my life not…to ask questions that might make someone uncomfortable.”

_That’s one way of putting it, I guess._

Keith studied him for a few seconds, then nodded. He went back to eating slowly.

“When I first got my visions…I was in an orphanage.”

Lance froze and all the rice fell from his chopsticks. He carefully glanced over, seeing that Keith was tense. Lance felt as though maybe Keith was searching for a casual reaction, like he gave with the vision so he continued to eat.

“You can go on…”

Keith nodded. “Well, psychic magic is inherited. So, one of my parents had to have been psychic, too. But my dad never told me about it before he died and I never knew my mother. So, I thought I was going crazy. I kept them secret for years, until I met Shiro from the Academy. I had a vision in front of him and he recognized what happened. Told me about magic and mages,” he went on to tell the story.

“But ever since, it’s like everyone wants me to tell them their fortune. It’s…weird. Makes me feel all exposed and uncomfortable.”

“You…didn’t know about magic?” Lance asked, shocked. “I couldn’t even imagine…”

“It was pretty much a shock. I was barely thirteen,” he said, finishing up his food. He sipped at his tea, absentmindedly. “I was already moving things at will. When I went into…well, I think the counsellor called it ‘fits of rage’ the entire room I had would be full of broken furniture.”

Lance opened up a cabinet and threw away the containers of finished food in the trash can with a wave of his fingers. He absorbed Keith’s story with a concentration.

“One of the foster homes actually thought I was possessed,” Keith said, a hint of pain at the memory. “I ran away from that one.”

“Goddess…” Lance breathed out.

Keith’s mouth twitched. “Well, I might have said a few things like I served Satan and that I was at his service before throwing a Bible at them with my mind before I ran out.”

Lance snorted. “Oh, wow. Now that’s a scene.”

Keith glared at the fortune cookies left on the counter.

“I hate those things….”

Lance took one and broke it open, reading it.

“’ _A dubious friend may be an enemy in camouflage’…”_

Keith rolled his eyes. “Bullshit…”

“I don’t know, it might be true,” Lance said, shrugging. “I think Pidge is pretty shady sometimes…”

Keith let out a sharp ‘ha!’. “Okay, that’s fair.”

Lance pushed over a fortune cookie to Keith, expectantly. Keith sighed, taking it and opening it.

“’ _You look…’”_ He paused, blinking. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

“What-, uh, come on, you can’t stop there!” Lance said, awkwardly stumbling over words again.

Keith sighed, handing the piece of paper over. Lance read it aloud:

‘ _You look pretty’_

Lance sputtered into loud laughter, as Keith rolled his eyes again. “Well, at least we know this one’s real.”

“Shut up…” Keith said, turning pink.

They cleaned up and settled on the couch. Lance was still bursting with questions but knew better than to ask without Keith’s permission. After a little while of letting their familiars get used to each other again. Keith seemed lost in thought. He spoke up again.

“I’ve only told people my visions if I absolutely had to. That’s only happened a few times.” Keith looked over, carefully.

“I don’t think I’ll tell you. Not…yet anyway,” Keith said, quietly. “But maybe…sometime.”

Lance grinned. “Okay, don’t worry. No pressure here. Well, I found a new documentary on Netflix about the Loch Ness monster like a while ago, if you want-,”

“Yes, the one with that British announcer? Yes, oh my Goddess that’s been on my list for ages,” Keith said, eyes lighting up.

Lance looked behind to see a few couch cushions actually were floating in the air, obviously from Keith’s excitement. Lance giggled behind his hand.

“Hell yeah. Come on now.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A break in tension and good ol' fashioned Bonding Times

Keith stayed at Lance’s apartment every night for the entire week. And every morning, without a word of argument, he’d get up, dress and go to class. He had perfect attendance the entire week. It was something he hadn’t done in maybe a month.

The whole summer had been filled with someone threatening him nearly every day. He had dozens of letters and at least ten cursed talismans sent his way over the course of those horrible three months.

He had been so convinced that something was going to happen to him that he had to quit his work study at the Academy. With the new semester, he genuinely considered dropping out.

Keith was one that knew how to fight. He was scrappy, angry and had experience with bullies of all kinds. This was the first time that he was caught off guard. Pidge had been worried, because they knew how he usually was. He withdrew from even them, distancing himself in case the threats turned to them.

But, as soon as Lance blew his way into Keith’s life, he was feeling almost like himself again.

Shiro and Coran were trying to make headway in finding out who was targeting them. They had told Lance and Keith to just stick together and stay in sight of either each other or one of the more adultier adults. So, it ended up where Keith just stuck to Lance when at work, too.

Miraculously, Lance hadn’t complained once.

Keith was sort of feeling awkward about it, though. Like he was invading Lance’s life.

Until Coran came up to him as he was talking to Lance about mermaid culture in the middle of Friday’s shift.

“I was wondering, Keith…would it be easier if I just hired you part-time?”

Keith blinked at the man, mouth agape. “Oh, uh, I don’t know if that’s…”

He looked at Lance, unsure of what to do. Lance grinned at him, excitedly.

“Dude, totally! I mean, you’re basically working here already. Might as well get paid for it,” he said, casually.

“I’ve been thinking it would help out around here, as Allura and I have been getting busier with the semester and still working on finding our mystery stalker,” Coran explained. “It’s entirely your choice, though.”

“Uh, I’ll…think about it,” Keith said, now immensely feeling awkward.

“Alright, that’s completely understandable. Now, I’m off to meet an old friend. I think he might be able to help. Professor Shirogane should come by sometime today to check up on you both,” Coran said, hurrying out the door.

“Dude, why won’t-oh, uh…it would just be totally easy to be officially an employee. Coran pays like really good,” Lance said, petting Blue on the counter in front of him.

“I’m not exactly customer service material. I feel like as soon as some asshole comes in and starts something about prices, books will fly,” Keith said, frowning. “And this is like…your place, you know? I feel like I’ve already bothered you enough.”

Lance poked him in the shoulder, which made him look over. Lance was nervously biting the inside of his lip.

“Do you think I don’t like you or something?” Lance asked, not stumbling over words at all.

Keith blinked. “Well, maybe? Yeah? I basically bulldozed into your life and ruined it. Now, I’m staying at your place against your will, hanging off you at your work like a child and brought some dangerous lunatic into your life.”

Keith cleared his throat, looking away. He definitely didn’t mean to tell Lance that much. It just came pouring out.

Lance sighed, shaking his head. “Keith, you’re seeing this all wrong. Look, I was going to offer to let you stay at my place before you even suggested it. I was just too worried about coming off too strong, too fast. You seem to be someone that likes your privacy. Me? I love people. I love being around people. And I definitely like being around you.”

“Wait, really?” Keith wasn’t sure if he believed him.

“Hell yeah, man. I hate living on my own. This was an apartment included in my scholarship. I had to take it. When Hunk moved from being next door to me, I cried for like a week straight. True story,” Lance said, chuckling at the memory. “And working here is great, but I’m always stuck with being on the floor by myself. I’m constantly bored and you’ve been really fun to have around.”

Keith hummed, considering all that. He actually liked being around Lance, too.

“Okay. I’ll tell Coran when he gets back,” he said, still hesitant. “I do need the money.”

“That’s the spirit!” Lance said, giving him a thumbs up.

Keith snorted, rolling his eyes. “I’m going to go to the café to check on Pidge and Hunk. Do you want some-,”

“Mm, caramel macchiato with two extra pumps of caramel,” he asked, holding up a finger.

“Oh, that sounds pretty good…” Keith said under his breath. He’d probably ask for two of those.

Lance giggled a little. “You know, Mr. Emo hair and leather, I would never have pegged you as a sweets guy.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Sweets and chocolate were basically currency in the orphanages and foster homes. And I was the scary kid that could make things move with his mind. The foster parents I had were sure I was going to one day burn down their house, but the foster kids basically worshipped me. I have tons of sugar cravings.”

Lance grinned, nodding. “Huh. Okay. Add that to the list of very surprising things about the psychic telekinetic.”

Keith moved back to the café, checking on stock around the store as he did. If he was going to start working there, might as well get comfortable about where things are.

He entered the café, breathing in the now familiar smell of obviously more than just a café, with some earthy herby notes from Hunk’s other job of brewing potions and elixirs.

Pidge turned from where they were typing away on their laptop, looking dead inside. Keith cringed, settling next to them at the bar.

“I hate you and I want you dead in the ground,” they said, bitterly.

Keith gave them a curious eyebrow. “Are you the one sending the letters? Because if so, then wow, you’ve really fooled me. If not, then you have to get in line behind them. They’ve had dibs on my dead body for months now.”

Hunk behind the cash register turned and frowned at him, disappointed. “Don’t even joke about that, oh my Goddess.”

Pidge sighed, then groaned and raked their fingers down their face. Keith decided to entertain the familiar meltdown.

“Alright, so tell me what’s wrong. And fast, because I’m supposed to bring Lance a caramel ma-,” he almost finished, when Hunk cut in.

“A caramel macchiato with two extra pumps of caramel,” he finished for Keith. “Already on it.”

“Make that two. I want to try it.”

Pidge gave him a disgusted look. “You and your frothy sugary monstrosities.”

“It’s my culture, don’t bash it,” Keith said, rolling his eyes. “It’s my home and where I come from.”

Hunk perked up, intrigued. “Really? What culture?”

“Orphan,” Keith and Pidge said together.

Hunk startled, with his hand on the to-go cups, flinging them all around the floor. Pidge cackled, as Keith hid his smile behind a gloved hand. Hunk looked around with wide eyes, an apology on his lips.

“Don’t apologize, don’t get weird, don’t give me pity, it’s fine. I was adopted at thirteen by Shiro’s family and things are great. I don’t call them Mom or Dad and I still say Shiro is my brother. My dad died when I was eight and I never knew my mother. Any other questions?” Keith said, on a practiced reel.

Of course, there are some mental and even some physical scars of his time in the system. He doesn’t deny that. But, after the whole ‘magic is real’ bomb and being adopted, he counted the fact he got out of that at all a serious luck trip for him. That’s why all the constant bullying in public schools and even with this whole ‘complete psycho wanting him dead’ thing, he didn’t really seem to get bothered by it that much.

If he could survive being a psychic telekinetic orphan, he could probably deal with regular assholes.

Hunk gaped at him, shocked. Then he relaxed, bending over and picking up the cups from the ground.

“Okay,” was all he said, before getting two fresh cups from the stack. “Do you want whipped cream?”

Keith grinned. “Yeah. I don’t know if Lance does, though.”

“No, he says whipped cream makes his mouth feel weird,” Hunk said, shaking his head. “Something about ‘nothing texture’? I don’t know.”

Pidge was looking at Hunk as though he had told them that Lance liked to watch spiders dance for him in his free time. They mouthed _‘nothing texture?’_ to themselves in complete bafflement. Keith chuckled at their expression.

“So, are you going to tell me what’s got you all in your angry gremlin state?” Keith asked them, to bring them back to the conversation.

“Oh yeah. Well, ever since you went to shack up with Lancey Lover boy, I’ve had to deal with my disgusting brother who is a constant pain in my ass,” they said, groaning.

“You two don’t get along?” Hunk asked, concerned.

“Huh? No, no he’s like my best friend,” Pidge said, casually.

Hunk blinked at them, bewildered. “Okay…well, uh…”

Keith waved a hand. “It’s a sibling thing.”

“Okay. Again. I’m just going to hand over one coffee,” Hunk said, doing said movement. “And I’m just going to finish this next one.”

Keith chuckled. “So, Pidge. What’s so wrong with staying with Matt?”

“He’s a slob, for one. Way more than me,” they said, disgusted. “And he’s got this weird hacking job that’s obviously way sketchy.”

“You’re not much better,” Keith said, taking a sip of the coffee, savoring the sugary beverage.

“Hey, I know my limits. But Matt gets way too into it and it’s going to bite him in the ass one day.”

“Well, sucks to be you I guess.”

Pidge rolled their eyes at him. “Lance better be amazing at sucking your-,”

“If you finish that sentence, that’s entirely misleading because Lance and I are just _friends,_ I will throw you out of that chair with just my mind,” Keith growled, narrowing his eyes at them.

He stood up as Hunk gave him Lance’s cup. He left a ten-dollar bill on the counter, ignoring Hunk’s attempts at refusing it.

“And I’m going now. Bye.”

Back at the front, he handed over Lance’s coffee. The boy brightened, sipping with a low hum. Keith settled with his back against the counter next to Lance. He had another thought.

“So, what’s with you and whipped cream?”

Lance’s eyes widened over the cup and he straightened.

“Okay, listen, I _know_ that nobody understands this, because everyone looks at me like I’ve grown two heads when I explain this. But _something_ is wrong with whipped cream and-and like other stuff that does that awful, horrible…disappearing in your mouth deal? I _hate_ that. Like those foods that just gives you a taste, but has no texture whatsoever? Like it’s some whipped…thing?”

Lance started ranting, speaking fairly quickly.

“Like, like…cotton candy. That just gives you a taste of sugar then it’s gone. That’s the absolute worst. Made by actual Satan. I _need_ something to chew. Some kind of crunchy substance. Or at least something that stays in your mouth longer than like…a few seconds.”

“But, what about drinks?” Keith asked, confused. “That’s not something to chew.”

“No, no. That’s not the same, because you _drink_ drinks. It’s a liquid. Whipped cream and other evil foods are _foods._ You don’t drink whipped cream. You like…just put it in your mouth. It’s about the _dissolving._ It’s wrong and bad.”

Keith nodded slowly, sipping at his coffee in thought. “Okay. But, like…what about yogurt? Or ice cream?”

“Still has real texture. Plus, you can add stuff to those to give it a crunch. Rocky road’s my favorite ice cream for that exact reason,” he said, casually.

Keith hummed in understanding. “Okay. Fair enough.”

Lance looked at him then like Keith had been the one to grow two heads.

“You…understand?”

“No, not even a little bit,” Keith said, shaking his head. “But, obviously you do. And that’s good enough for me.”

“ _This_ is what you’re talking about while you work?”

They both startled to look behind them to see Allura standing just behind the beaded curtain with an unimpressed look on her face. Lance shrugged.

“That girl over there has been staring at the incense sticks for like twenty minutes. I tried to help, but pretty sure she’s high out of her mind. So, what else are we going to do?” he said.

Keith finished off his drink, throwing it into the trash next to the counter. Allura rolled her eyes.

“Nothing, I suppose. Well, I guess I’m glad that you’re spending your time wisely,” she said, sarcastically.

“I am. I’m bonding with our very new hire over here,” Lance said, grinning at Keith. “Very important conversation topics.”

“Currently, it’s hot takes on whipped cream. Before, it was whether mermaids were the reason for Loch Ness monster sightings. My stake is that Nessie is real and very important to the natural ecosystem and not actually a magical being. Lance thinks there is a freshwater mermaid colony in the lake,” Keith said, casually.

Allura slowly smiled, going through the beaded curtain and leaning against the wall next to it.

“Okay, but obviously it’s just a funny log,” she said, crossing her arms.

“You’re going with the boring _human_ explanation?” Lance asked, affronted. “Disgusting.”

Keith raised a pointer finger. “That’s completely disrespectful to Nessie and she deserves better.”

Lance’s and Allura’ heads fell back with laughter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lance's rant on whipped cream is something I've said in reality more than once. My hatred of foods that dissolve in your mouth with no texture whatsoever is a constant discussion point in my family. Cotton candy and other such monstrosities belong in hell as far as I'm concerned


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The tension breaks and stalker ups their game
> 
> TW// mentions and visuals of suicide, violence and stalking

Keith went by his apartment after the shift was over, getting a new set of clothes and more of his stuff. Shiro had come by the shop to tell him that nothing was progressing in figuring out who the stalker was. He seemed pretty frustrated by that.

But Lance was thinking that he was really liking the situation so far.

Not the crazed stalker after him and Keith, obviously. But, the…everything else? He actually really liked the roommate and the friend at work that he felt was on his level.

As much as he loved talking to Coran and Allura, it felt like he was still talking to his godfather and his boss. They were on a different wavelength.

Keith? Keith somehow… _got_ him.

It was more than just because they were within a year of age or had similar friends. It was as if Keith and he had some connection beyond that.

Don’t get him wrong, they argued and bickered _constantly._

It wasn’t as if they argued because they didn’t like each other. Lance would say they got on like a house on fire. They liked each other s _o_ much that it felt more as if they wanted to know every single detail of each other. Even when they disagreed on nearly every subject.

Lance was thinking about how much he liked being around Keith when he went through the practiced motion of opening his mailbox without even considering to be afraid of what he might find.

He gathered the stack of letters, rifling through, then froze. His stomach dropped to the ground.

There, right in the middle of the stack was a yellow water-stained envelope. In calligraphed, swirly letters was his name on the front. First and last.

He whipped his head up, looking around the entire lobby. He searched through the people, trying to see anyone that would do this. He didn’t recognize the people milling around other than the few from his classes. None of which exuded evil or hatred.

Lance wondered if he should tell Keith.

Then he thought of how he nearly forced Keith to tell him everything. How…even without directly asking, he was entirely open and honest with Lance the whole time.

He breathed in and out a few times, calming himself down. He hurried up the stairs, two at a time, up to his apartment. He shakily got out his keys, opening up his door and quickly locking it again. He added two more wards and set two large black onyx crystals on each side of the door.

Lance set down his bag hastily on the couch and he threw the other mail on the counter without another thought.

The only thing left in his hands after that was the yellow water-stained envelope.

Lance got out his phone, thinking maybe he didn’t want to read this first alone. He pulled up and called Keith’s number.

It only rang two times before Keith answered.

“Lance? What’s up?” he asked, not sounding particularly worried. “Want me to bring back food?”

He paused. “Uh, actually….no, no that’s not…Keith, you should get here as soon as you can. I got a letter.”

Keith sucked in a breath, then cursed violently. “I’m on my way. Stay there. I’m sending Kosmo.”

“Be careful. They might still be around. I’m calling Coran,” he said, voice shaking with nerves.

“I’ll text Shiro. Don’t do anything until I get there. Don’t open it, nothing. I’m coming,” Keith said, urgently.

“Okay…okay. Uh, o-okay,” Lance kept repeating. “See you soon…”

“It’s going to be alright, Lance. Don’t worry. See you soon.”

The line went dead and Lance raised the envelope up to stare at it. It was bulging inside, like there was more than just a single letter. He called for Blue, who appeared on the counter. He quickly let her sniff the envelope, trying to see if she could sense a curse or hex on the paper.

Blue chirped, noting no curse on the paper whatsoever. He relaxed marginally.

Suddenly, Kosmo appeared next to him. Lance jumped in surprise. Kosmo sniffed over him quickly, then licked the back of his hand, going to sit obediently in front of the door. Lance headed over with shaky legs to sit on his couch, still staring at the envelope.

He slowly placed his phone on the back of the couch and called Coran’s personal phone number. When Coran answered, Lance told him everything that was happening. Coran immediately sounded alarmed, telling him to find Keith and stay safe. He asked Lance if he wanted to go to Coran’s for the night, which he refused.

After the call, there was a loud knock at the door. Lance whipped around in fear and he looked to Kosmo to see his reaction.

“Lance, it’s me. Keith.”

Kosmo looked at Lance and borked quietly. Confirmation.

Lance scrambled to lower the wards and open the door with a few incantations. Keith came in with an urgency, shutting the door and letting Lance put up with wards again. He had another bag of clothes hanging off him.

And two more letters in his hands.

“Lance, are you okay? Did you see anybody?” Keith asked, sitting next to him on the couch. He set his bag on the ground, yet Lance was still staring at the other letters. He pointed at them.

“You...too…” he said, dumbfounded.

Keith nodded, reluctantly. “We both weren’t there to get the mail. Pidge and me. So, this must have been through the week.”

They both sat in silence, wondering what to do. They looked between the letters between their hands and each other.

“So…we should…o-open them…” Lance said, shakily.

“I’ll go first.”

Keith just tore into the first envelope without hesitation. He pulled out two pieces of paper, each folded on its own. He unfolded one of them, then quickly read over the scribbles.

“Okay, the usual. _‘You’re going to die’, ‘you don’t deserve your magic’, ‘you’re a fraud’, ‘I’m going to kill you’,_ nothing really notable,” he said, almost relieved.

“Goddess, that’s like…way dark, dude. That’s the _usual?”_ Lance asked, unable to help himself.

Keith shrugged. “Yeah, basically.”

He unfolded the next paper, which Lance looked over his shoulder to see. He gasped in horror, covering his mouth.

It was a sketchy pencil drawing of Keith, hanging from a noose and a gruesome addition of Kosmo’s bleeding body under it. Lance had to turn away and he felt himself start to shake with nerves. Keith sighed, hand crinkling the paper.

“That one’s new…” he whispered, unnerved.

Lance didn’t know what to say and he felt as both their familiars reacted to their emotions and appeared next to them. Blue appeared next to Lance’s head on the back of the couch and Kosmo sat with his giant head on Keith’s lap.

Keith set the open letter and sketch on the coffee table, then ripped open the second letter. Lance glanced over, reluctantly. Keith pulled out a single piece of paper and another polaroid.

He stared at the polaroid and Lance looked at it too, then whimpered a little in fear.

It was a picture of Lance. But it was from _inside_ the shop.

Lance’s face was turned to Keith, chin in his palm as he seemed to be talking about something. His mouth was open with an easy smile. The rest of his expression couldn’t be discerned, because scratch marks went through his eyes.

Keith’s hand started to tremble.

“They were right there. In front of us. They got that close to you…” Keith said, horrified.

Lance shook his head, still unable to figure out what to say. Keith went on to unfold the piece of paper. It was just one solid black blocked word in thick marker:

**MINE**

“Fucking…fuck….” Lance breathed out.

Lance definitely didn’t want to open the one that was in his hand. It was all starting to feel like some horror stalker movie. He didn’t know real people actually did stuff as horrible and disgusting as that.

Keith’s fist clenched and crumpled the paper in his hand, aggressively. Lance jumped as an empty drinking glass shattered on the table in front of them. Lance grabbed Keith’s shoulder and squeezed.

“Calm down…” he whispered.

Keith let out a shuddering breath and ran a frustrated hand through his hair. Lance looked back down at his letter and he decided he might as well. He ripped it open, taking out a handful of polaroids.

A few fell to the ground, face up. And Lance felt his panic rise.

They were all of Keith.

Lance scrambled to pick up all the pictures and spread them over the coffee table. Keith gaped at them, shocked. Lance counted them all out, which came to eleven different pictures, all of which seemed to be different days.

“This…this…I-I remember this day…” Keith croaked, picking up one of them of him in a burgundy button-down shirt and bright red vest. He was standing next to a bus stop, obviously from the vantage point of across the street and behind bushes as a few leaves in the picture.

“I went to a dinner with my adopted family and Shiro’s fiancé’s family. Shiro made me dress up and everything…” he whispered.

Lance wasn’t sure what Keith was trying to get at. Until Keith looked over with wide, terrified eyes.

“Lance…this was in _April._ They’ve been stalking me for almost six months. This was nearly three months before I got my first letter.”

Keith was absolutely _panicking._ Lance might have been, too. He didn’t know what to do. It was…an actual nightmare.

Lance cursed a full sentence in Spanish.

Keith blinked at him, thrown. “Was that Spanish?”

“Yeah,” Lance said, casually. “What-uh, how…mm…”

He dug through the envelope to see if any other pictures or anything was hiding out. He pulled out a folded piece of paper, just like all of Keith’s and unfolded it.

The page was filled with the same phrase over and over again:

_STAY AWAY FROM HIM_

Lance blinked at the paper. Then slowly thought it all through. At first, everything just felt really creepy and wrong and freaky. Which, of course it still was, but there was another problem. He hadn’t seen it before because he had been distracted by how scary it was.

“Wait, wait…this doesn’t make sense…” Lance said, quietly.

Keith looked at him, in disbelief. “Of course, it doesn’t make sense. It’s crazy!”

“No, no it’s more than just that,” he said, reaching for the first letter. “Here, look. This one says that they want you dead. They want to kill you and…all that. But, these?”

He pointed to his own letter and the second letter in Keith’s hand.

“That seems like the person is obsessed with you. Wants you alone. Doesn’t want anyone else involved. That doesn’t add up.”

“I don’t get it,” Keith said, frowning. “What’s the difference?”

“Uh, everything!” Lance said, throwing his hands up. “Keith, there are two kinds of stalkers. One is the kind that stalk you before they kill you. Classic serial killer stuff. But the second kind are the ones that believe that they’re like in love with the person they’re stalking. Some even believe they’re actually in a relationship with them. This first one makes it seem like they’re going to kill you. These others makes it seem like they’re actually in love with you. It’s completely contradictory.”

Keith narrowed his eyes. “One, why does it matter? And two…why do you know this much about stalkers?”

“My dude, I’ve watched like tons of ID my entire life. True crime documentaries are my jam,” Lance said, waving a hand. “And it matters because we can’t narrow down our suspects unless the motive is obvious. You’ve been going at this as though it’s like…a one note bully. We can figure this out better if we know what this person actually wants from you.”

“You don’t think it’s just to kill me and/or you?” Keith asked, finally getting it.

“Well, it might be more than that. If this person decides to actually do something in real life…then it could change what they really do. Say, this person just wants to kill us. Then they can just jump us and do it when we’re walking alone. We live in a big city, we walk everywhere. You’ve apparently been stalked for a long time. There would have been tons of times to kill you. But, nothing has changed that much in your letters until _I_ came in. I mean, Pidge hasn’t been threatened before, right? Or Shiro?”

Keith slowly shook his head. “No. It’s only been me.”

“Until _me,”_ Lance added. “So…why? What is it about me?”

“They’re maybe jealous?” Keith answered, unconvinced. “They see you as a threat for whatever they want from me, which they don’t see anyone else as.”

“Exactly!” he said, snapping his fingers. “This person is escalating, not because they’re worried about getting caught. They’re worried about specifically _me g_ etting in the way. They’re panicking. That’s something to work off of.”

“How?”

Lance hummed, grinning. He laid the letter in his palm and floated it. Then he whispered an incantation. It burned to cool ashes and he vanished the evidence.

“We act completely normal. Don’t give any reaction whatsoever. Do exactly the opposite of what they want. You stay close as you can to me,” Lance instructed. “This might make the person do something rash and expose themselves. Are you in?”

Keith frowned at all the pictures laid out around them, the glared at the scratched out one of Lance. He did as Lance had, burning the polaroid and vanishing the evidence.

“I’m in.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Lance struggle to maintain an outward appearance that everything is normal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> btw if you haven't gone back to look at the new art, Sony has drawn scenes all the way up to chapter 6 now!!  
> go take a look they are so good!!!

“Are you _sure_ you should be at work right now?” Allura asked the two of them for the millionth time.

Lance sipped at his sugary coffee with no whipped cream and smacked his lips. “I’d rather die than sit at home on one of the last openly pretty warm day of the year. I _feel_ the seasons changing. Even if I’m stuck at work.”

Keith still looked on edge, constantly analyzing every single person that has come in. Lance snuck him a calming citrine stone on a band as a bracelet. Keith looked down, then gave him a sigh, realizing what it meant. He slipped it on and breathed deeply.

“Well, alright. Professor Shirogane and Coran did say it was safe, right?” Allura asked, suspicious.

“Yes,” Keith said, quietly. “I’m not exactly happy about this either.”

Lance flinched at the tone. Keith turned and went into the back rooms without another word, eyes cast down and Lance gave Allura a Look.

“Great. See what you did? It took nearly an hour this morning to calm him down from freaking out about me being in public. I’m trying to make it so that he can feel normal again,” he said, quietly at her.

Allura sighed, looking sufficiently guilty. “I’m sorry, I do see that. I’m just…worried, alright? You are both in serious danger.”

“We know. But, we can’t just sit around and fret like old ladies when this freakshow just does whatever they want. We’re taking a risk, we know. But, that’s the point. It’ll be worse if we make it seem like they got to us,” he said, summoning Blue. “Now can you please ring up those kids? I’m going to talk to Keith.”

She sighed and did as he asked. Lance moved back the beaded curtain and Blue puttered ahead of him. She went to the farthest office space, the one that they basically used as a supply closet and apothecary.

Lance popped his head in, finding Keith sitting in an old chair in the corner with his head in his hands. His eyes were squeezed shut. Lance was about to say something, when Lance noticed Keith’s eyes moving behind his eyelids. Lance slowly straightened and moved further in, curiously.

And then Keith’s nose started to bleed.

_Ah, shit…_

Keith started breathing shakily and then his eyes shot open. His hands dropped to grip at his chair and he panted in fear.

“Hey…” Lance said, quietly. He put his hands up in the air.

Keith whipped his head up in surprise, then sighed when he saw it was Lance. He reached up and checked under his nose. He clicked his tongue in irritation.

“Great…”

Lance reached into his pocket and pull out a wad of tissues. He walked over and handed them over, casually leaning against the wall next to Keith’s chair. He didn’t say anything as Keith wiped at his bloody nose. He looked up at Lance, eyes still distant.

“Were you standing there long?” he asked, quietly.

Lance shook his head. “Just came in. Went looking for you to see if you were okay.”

Keith sighed again, sounding exhausted. Lance crouched down on his toes as Keith was hunched over and he bent his head down to see Keith’s expression up close.

“You don’t have to tell me,” Lance said, quietly.

He looked away, uncomfortable. Lance was glad he didn’t ask questions. Sometimes he would let his curiosity get a hold of him, but with Keith, he knew he had to really keep himself in line.

“I can leave you alone, if you want…”

Lance was about to stand up again, when Keith grabbed his arm. He looked over, surprised. Keith almost flinched, unclasping his hand. Lance quickly wrapped up Keith’s hand with his fingers purposefully staying to the protective leather glove.

“Hey…you’re okay. It’s all okay. You’re safe,” Lance whispered, hopefully encouraging.

Honestly, he was wondering if Keith’s past did have more of an effect on him than he liked to let on. Lance wasn’t sure if he would ever feel comfortable enough to ask even if sometime in the future, Keith would give him permission.

Keith stared at his fingers, seemingly mesmerized.

“Keith?” Lance asked, trying to get his attention again.

Keith blinked his eyes, much calmer now. He slowly closed his hand, fingers brushing against Lance’s skin. Lance watched Keith’s expression to see if he at all got another vision. Keith breathed out in relief.

“You’re okay to touch me now,” he whispered, squeezing Lance’s hand.

“Are you sure?” Lance asked, thumb moving slowly up to pad against Keith’s knuckles.

Keith nodded. “I think you’re a one-vision person. Sometimes people only have a single vision attached to them, then after that I won’t get triggered to have one again when touching them.”

Lance sighed, losing tension in his shoulders. He was getting worried that his usual touchy-feely self was going to get too much for him and he was going to push Keith’s boundaries about skin contact at some point.

“You know, I’ve wanted to give you a hug for a while. Would that be okay?” Lance asked, doing his best to smile at him.

Keith’s mouth twitched. “Yeah. Yeah, that’d be okay.”

Lance smiled, before straightening to kneel on the ground and wrapping Keith up in a hug. His hand coming up to gently cradle the back of Keith’s head as Keith turned his head into the crook of Lance’s neck and shoulder. Keith’s hands came to rest at Lance’s ribs.

It was kind of an awkward position, but Lance didn’t mind. Keith was finally comfortable with touching him. That was huge progress.

Keith smelled like leather, shampoo and lavender.

“You can tell me if you’re okay, at least…” Lance said, quietly.

“I…I might…” Keith started to say, like he had more to add, but couldn’t get it out. “I don’t know.”

Lance leaned back, still keeping his hands all over Keith’s back. He just felt like it needed to stay there.

“Do you-ah, uh…we can go home today, if you want. Everyone would totally understand. Allura was basically telling us to,” Lance said, gently.

Keith’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “But, we decided to act normal…”

Lance shrugged. “Well, normal people still get sick. We can get the gang to bring us food as if you really are sick. Plus, I mean…you really do look pretty out of it. I don’t want to force you to keep working as if everything’s fine. Because it’s not. Everything’s fucked.”

“Goddess, I’m…so sorry, Lance…” Keith said, hanging his head in shame.

“Uh, wait, wha-I don’t know what’s…you don’t have anything to apologize for?”

“I keep…fucking up and being a burden and ruining your life. I’m so sorry. Like…how am I so fucking pathetic? I should be used to this shit by now. I’ve been having visions for years. I just-,” Keith said, getting quicker and obviously spiraling.

“Hey, hey, hey, hey,” Lance cut him off, repeating it. “Stop, stop. Nothing. Nothing to apologize for, okay? Not a burden, not ruining anything. I w _ant_ you in my life. None of the other stuff is your fault at all.”

Keith sighed, eyes wide and vulnerable at him. It wasn’t something Lance had really seen before. It made him way more protective.

“We should go home. We got tons of conspiracy theory documentaries to watch,” he said, chuckling. “And I’m going to make you chicken noodle soup.”

“I’m not actually sick, though.”

He grinned. “I think you are, though. Oh, what’s this?”

Lance put the back of his hand on Keith’s forehead. Keith blinked, eyes looking up to his arm.

“Yep, definitely feel a fever. Oof, wow, super hot. Sizzling here,” he said, shaking out his hand in faux heat.

Keith mouth twitched into a small smile and he chuckled. “Okay. Let’s go.”

Allura had basically deflated in relief, telling them to be careful and go home quickly. She would handle the shop from then on and probably close up early. She wanted to do some herb gathering in her personal garden at the time of seasons changing.

Back at the apartment and putting up a ward over the entire wall with the door, Lance sighed with relief. He had been pretty nervous outside his supposed safe space with his wards and protection stones.

Keith still rubbed at his aching head.

“How about I make you some more tea? Helps with the headache. And I’ll actually cook you some soup,” Lance suggested, smiling at the man.

“Yeah, that does sound good. But…” he said, frowning. “I think I need some time to meditate. The vision might have been worse because I’ve been spending too much time shutting them out.”

Lance hummed, then nodded. “Okay, go ahead and take my room. I have candles and stuff in there. Just come out when you’re done. I’ll make the soup and tea.”

Keith nodded, calling for Kosmo to follow him. He went back to Lance’s room, closing the door with a soft click. Lance got to work on the soup from Hunk’s personal recipe book that he left for Lance when he moved. He hummed under his breath, feeling centered with the repetitive motions of making the soup when he felt his phone buzz in his back pocket.

Lance pulled it out and then blinked at the contact:

Lotor:

> _Hello, there. I was wondering if you were interested in getting those drinks I mentioned. I’ll pick you up maybe 7 tonight?_

“Huh…”

Lance was…surprised to say the least.

Lance had liked the man in the moment of flirting, but the idea of actually going on a date wasn’t really appealing to him. Something about Lotor felt unapproachable. Like, he was out of Lance’s league. And usually, that wouldn’t stop him at all, but this time…he decided that he was going to let this one pass.

Plus, he had a lot other things to worry about.

One of which was currently in his bedroom.

He texted that he had plans with friends and that he couldn’t, then went on with his cooking. Not even two seconds passed before it buzzed again.

Lotor:

> _Playing hard-to-get? Well I can understand. One with your attributes could get anyone he pleases._

Lance chuckled a little.

Lance:

> _my, what a charmer_ 😊 _…but i was telling the truth lmao. friend is sick. gotta take care of him and all_

He felt the usual butterflies that he had when he did some flirting. Maybe Lotor could be something, he just wasn’t entirely sure. He was wanting a bit more on the slower side, just to see if they could actually vibe.

The last girlfriend he had nearly destroyed him when he came clean with his secret.

Like, literally. She was a half-fire demon and her hair erupted into flames.

The phone buzzed again as he started cutting up the vegetables. He glanced at it, then frowned.

Lotor:

> _That’s too bad. I was wanting someone to keep me warm tonight…_

Well, that’s…definitely forward.

Lance wasn’t a high school kid anymore that dreamed of having a perfect romance that didn’t have sex until they were married. Far from it, really. But, he was still a little more old-fashioned than to take a stranger up and have one-night stands after a few drinks.

That was risky enough on its own as a mage trying to keep magic a secret, but also because he’d been burned by that one before.

He would get so caught up in the romance and passion of it all, that he would forget to keep himself in line with how he asked questions. And then he’d get into territory he never wanted to.

Not to mention, he’d mostly find people that were lying to even themselves about what they wanted and when he’d ask for proper consent (which he’d always do, with a fully purposed intentioned question), the person would answer entirely truthfully and say no.

He finished up the vegetables, put the kettle on and let the soup simmer in the pot.

Lance picked up his phone, staring at the question and thought about it all.

Lotor _was_ really attractive. And a mage, so that’s already taken care of. And seems entirely willing. And he had a sneaking suspicion they wouldn’t need to talk very much…

Usually, he would be totally up for this. He’d already be out the door, picking out the bar.

Why was he so reluctant? What made him reconsider so much?

“Lance?”

He whipped his head up in surprise, blinking at the man in the opening of his kitchen.

Keith had wide, glassy eyes, blood running from his nose yet again and his forehead was covered in sweat. Lance’s heart wrenched in empathy and his head filled with protective instincts because someone he cared about was _hurting_ and…

_Oh._

_Oh...that might be why._

__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> listen im a sucker for the realization of feelings with an italicized 'oh'


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith has doubts

“Lance?” Keith asked again, worried. “Is something wrong?”

Lance blinked and then hurriedly put his phone down on the counter. Keith then had his face gently cupped in Lance’s hands, short-circuiting his sanity. Lance looked his face all over, worriedly.

Then suddenly they stared into each other’s eyes, Keith nearly forgetting the horrific images he saw in the visions he got.

“I made soup…”

Keith glanced at the stove, then back up to Lance’s eyes.

“I…would like some soup…”

Lance nodded, then waved his hand, summoning a tissue box, taking a few and gently wiping away Keith’s bloody nose. He was concentrated on this action while Keith stood…completely bewildered.

“Did…something happen?” Keith asked, quietly.

Lance froze. His eyes looked panicked and he bit his lip. He handed the tissue box over to Keith, with a wobbly smile.

“I’ll get you some tea.”

Keith stood still, baffled and sort of hurt that Lance didn’t seem to trust him to tell him whatever was going on. He watched as Lance went back over to his cabinets, absentmindedly summoning ingredients from his cupboards. 

But Keith noticed Lance’s hands were shaking, interfering with the spell.

“Wait, Lance!”

Lance looked over, but not in time to see a giant flour bag was accidentally summoned as well as the cinnamon, flying through the air at high speeds. His eyes widened and he turned, just as the weight nailed him in the stomach, sending him to the ground with a yelp. The bag opened, exploding a puff of white into the air and all over the counters and floor.

Keith hurried to look around the island counter and knelt down next to Lance’s pale white powdered face.

“Goddess, are you okay? You have to be more careful…”

Lance groaned, pushing off the giant bag of flour onto the ground. He slowly sat up, holding his stomach and head.

“Yeah, I’m fine…” he said, looking down and sighing. “Great. Just what I need.”

Lance and Keith just sat in silence for a second, taking in the situation.

Keith then descended into laughter, starting out quiet, turning into true loud bellow laughs. He had to fall into a sitting position, because the force of the laughter knocked him over.

“Keith! Stop!” Lance said, whacking at his arm without any force. “Come on, stop laughing at me!”

He hid his mouth behind his gloved hand, trying to control it.

“Sorry…sorry….” He said, choking back his laughter.

Lance pouted at him, but Keith couldn’t help another giggle. Lance sighed, then joined him with soft chuckles. Keith moved to a single knee, taking off his gloves and tucking them in his back pocket before patting Lance’s powdery head.

“You sure you’re okay? That bag is like ten pounds. Why do you even have that big of a bag of flour?” Keith asked, confused. “It’s like…industrial.”

Lance wiped at his face, coughing at the puffs of flour in his mouth. “Hunk left it. He’d been learning how to bake and used those bags all the time.”

Keith stood up and offered Lance a hand to stand on his own too. Keith stepped back and coughed as that puffed more flour into the air. He waved his now ungloved hand through the cloud and Lance wiped down his clothes.

“Ugh, I liked this shirt…” Lance said, looking down at it.

“You can wash it,” Keith said, wiping his shoulder. “So, no bruised ribs or anything?”

Lance gentled prodded against his sides and shook his head. “I think I’m good.”

“Okay, go and clean yourself up. I’ll finish things here,” Keith said, clapping his hands to clean it from flour and unzipped his red hoodie. He easily floated it over to sit on the couch, out of the danger zone of being covered in flour.

Lance was staring strangely at him. His eyes were trained to his torso. Keith looked down at his simple grey tank top.

“What? Do I have a stain or something?”

Keith looked around his shirt, confused. He looked back up to see Lance’s head turned away with a faint blush on his cheeks.

“Uh, no. No, I just…noticed the tattoo. I didn’t know you had one…” Lance said, clearing his throat.

“Oh, right,” Keith said, stretching his collar down to show the inky black tattoo over his heart. “It’s the roman numeral date of when my dad died.”

Lance lost tension in his shoulders, suddenly looking sentimental. Keith didn’t quite understand the sentiment, it wasn’t as though Lance knew his father. Lance smiled at the edges of his lips.

“I…really like that, I actually….” He said, grabbing the bottom of his shirt and hiking it up to show Keith his left side. Keith’s eyes immediately went to a small tattoo on his ribs, a set of coordinate numbers.

Also completely distracted with the sudden display of golden perfect skin. Keith was a pathetic, hopeless gay man.

“The coordinates of Varadero. Cuba, my home.”

Keith then understood Lance’s expression before, because his face must have looked entirely similar. He suddenly had a strong affinity and love for Cuba, somewhere he’d never been and only heard on the occasion in geography courses or history class. He didn’t know that much about Cuba, but it was the place that Lance called home. The place that raised him. That meant Keith loved it. His eyes went back up to Lance’s blue.

“I like that, too. It’s…really clean,” Keith said, unable to find anything else to say other than compliment the artist’s professional work.

Lance must have taken it well, because he smiled, kindly. Keith stepped up and gently pushed Lance out the kitchen.

“Clean up. I smell the soup getting done,” Keith said, chuckling.

Lance carefully stepped over the flour and Keith got to work on cleaning and taking the soup off the heat. The water just got done in the tea kettle and Keith sighed in relief that it hadn’t burned. Lance already got done with…some kind of tea leaves in a bowl. Keith had no idea if Lance was actually done, but he decided he might as well just finish it off.

He used his precise magic to gather the smallest powder from the counters and floor, taking out a garbage bag and putting the floating ball into the bag. He moved the overturned flour package back into the cabinet, concentrating a little harder as it was still pretty heavy.

“Keith…I can’t get this stuff out of my hair! But, if I add water, won’t it just…make my hair like dough?” Lance called out of the bathroom, desperately.

Keith sighed and chuckled, fondly. “Hold on, I’m coming to help. Just give me a second.”

He made sure nothing was still cooking actually and went to go back to the bathroom went he heard a buzzing from a phone on the counter. It was facing up, so he couldn’t help stop and glance at the screen.

Keith blinked a few times, reading the notification as ‘Lotor’ and his soul seemed to disintegrate. He glanced to the bathroom, then slowly approached the phone. He picked it up, staring at the message.

Lotor:

> _Don’t you want a real man to set you right?_

And then Keith’s breath stuttered when he saw two more messages that had attachments. He felt himself truly understand what was going on. He jumped to all the conclusions and concluded all the jumps.

Keith turned off the screen and quickly went to the bathroom. Lance was sitting on the edge of the tub, his shirt and pants cast off to the ground. Keith had to keep from reacting to the image of Lance in just his boxers.

“Dude, like, I keep shaking out the flour no matter how much I brush it out, I’m so fucked!”

Keith presented the phone to Lance, looking away. “You got some texts.”

Lance blinked and then slowly took it. He turned on the screen, frowning. He opened it fully to see the messages, then let out a strange sound.

“Goddess, my-Jesus, fucking….yikes. Okay, _that’s_ not okay,” he said, croaking.

Keith looked over in surprise. “Huh? What is it?”

Lance sighed, doing a few quick strokes of his thumb across the screen.

“A fuckboy. Sent completely non-consensual dick pics. And now they’re blocked. Not wanting any of that shit,” he said, irritated. “Goddess, that was…not fun to see. Gross.”

Keith felt the previous soul disintegration completely reverse. It was sort of disorienting how quick that went. He felt pretty foolish for getting so bothered by just the thought of Lance texting other people.

He and Lance weren’t dating. He had no right to feel jealous.

Not to mention how he definitely didn’t even deserve Lance as just a friend with everything he’d done.

“Keith? You’re…kind of spacing out,” Lance said, reaching forward and poking at the back of Keith’s hand.

He startled. “Oh, right. Sorry. Just…wow, yeah that’s pretty rude. I hate it when that happens.”

Lance nodded. “Like, I kind of appreciate someone that’s upfront about what they want, but obviously when I respond too. I rejected the guy and we didn’t ever get sexual at all. We flirted one time in public. That’s it. I need way more before I’m comfortable with things going further.”

Keith hummed, then grabbed the hairbrush off the sink. He held it up in a question and Lance gestured to him to come closer. He settled himself to stand close as Lance’s head bent and Keith gently brushed through his short hair.

“I don’t really know a lot about that. I don’t get out much,” Keith said, casually.

Lance snorted. “It’s not like I do that much, either. I used to, though.”

“I’d expect you to be always out and…being your happy extroverted self,” Keith said, frowning.

Lance chuckled. “Oh yeah. Happy extrovert…that’s me.”

Keith slowed down in brushing, thrown by how… _wrong_ Lance’s tone was.

“Is it not? Have I…just totally made up what you’re like?”

Lance hummed, as he crossed his legs at the ankles and he fidgeted to be more comfortable.

“I’m definitely an extrovert, that’s not wrong. And…I really did like to go out and meet a bunch of people. But…some stuff got complicated. I had to kind of stop doing that all the time. For…someone like…” he sighed. “Meeting new people can just get complicated.”

Keith brushed out as much flour as he could see out. “Someone like…you? Are you talking about magic?”

Lance fell silent and after a few seconds, Keith realized that could just as personal as the questions he hated getting asked himself.

“Never mind. You don’t have to tell me anything. I get that there’s some parts of our lives we like to keep private.”

“I do…want to tell you more. I think that it would…uh, make a lot of things easier. But….” Lance said, quietly. He sighed. “It’s complicated.”

Keith stopped his movements in brushing, then backed up. Lance was still looking down, maybe thinking Keith was going to get mad that Lance was keeping things quiet. Keith set a gentle fist under Lance’s chin, moving his head to look up at him. Lance’s full blue eyes were wide and vulnerable.

“I get it. I’m pretty…secretive myself. It’s not like I tell you everything either. And you’ve never pushed. So, I won’t either. If at some point, you do want to tell me, then I’m here to listen,” he said, smiling at him as soft and gentle as he could.

Lance had a myriad of emotions pass through his expression, so many and so subtly Keith wasn’t sure what to distinguish. He settled into a reluctant smile.

“If you…notice anything about how I act or speak…you can ask about it. I won’t mind. It would…maybe explain some things.”

Keith frowned, unable to understand what that meant. “Okay?”

Lance chuckled, shrugging. “That’s really all I can say about it for now.”

“Alright then…go ahead and take a shower. I think that’s all it can get with the brush. I’ll go out and finish things up with the food,” Keith said, awkwardly.

Lance nodded and Keith left the bathroom, closing the door. He was…very confused.

How Lances acts or speaks. That was his exact phrasing. If Keith noticed anything about how he acted or spoke. What did that mean?

Keith thought about it after he served himself some soup and got a new pot of tea going, as he thought maybe the water was already too cold. He sat at the counter, still thinking about everything. He thought back to every conversation with Lance, wondering about what could be a strange difference in how he acted.

Keith had noticed that Lance had a habit of changing the wording of his phrases, as if he had to rethink things. But, he didn’t think much of it. He thought it was just a tick he had.

Frustrated, he pulled out his phone and called Pidge.

“’Sup, nerd. What do you want?” their voice came in, casually.

“Have you…noticed anything weird with Lance? Like…I don’t know, something about how he acts or speaks?” he asked, quietly into the phone.

“Yes!” Pidge said, quickly and loudly. Keith nearly reeled in surprise. “You noticed it too?”

“Uh, I…I don’t really know…?” he said, hesitantly. “What have you noticed?”

“It’s weird, like…I don’t know how to explain it. He starts a sentence, then suddenly looks like he shouldn’t finish it and changes the wording. And usually it doesn’t make it clearer, in fact it always seems to make it more confusing. And I don’t think it’s just something weird about him. It’s like he knows what he’s doing. Like…he doesn’t want to actually ask certain questions,” Pidge said, thoughtful.

“Ask…certain questions?” Keith repeated, still lost. “What kind of questions?”

“Usually, it’s like personal questions. But, sometimes it’s not even that personal. Sometimes he’ll just be about to ask a regular question but changes it to make it a statement. It’s weird, I don’t get it at all,” they said, frustrated. “Because it’s always the same…sentiment in the end. Like he still asked the question essentially, but always ends up without actually _asking_.”

Keith thought back to those moments of Lance about to ask a question and would change the wording.

“What do you think about it? You know him way better by now. Do you think we should actually trust him?” Pidge asked, seriously.

“Wait, you don’t think he’s….”

“No, I don’t think he’s secretly your stalker. Although, wow would that be some plot twist, huh?” Pidge said, snorting. “I mean…just in general. Do you think you trust him?”

Keith sighed, glancing to the bathroom where he started to hear Lance start to sing. He recognized that he was singing in Spanish and his heart warmed, thinking of Cuba. But there was the hint of apprehension. A shiver of doubt.

How well did he truly know Lance? And did he know enough to trust him fully?

“I don’t know, Pidge. I…just don’t know.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are finally revealed  
> TW:// mentions of death, violence, and panic attacks

Lance knew that it was just a matter of time until Keith figured it out. The reason he hadn’t gone out to meet new people in nearly two years. The reason his significant others never lasted longer than a few months.

The reason he was terrified that Keith was going to leave him like everyone else had.

In the past, once he had gotten to this point in a relationship (friendship or otherwise), where they started to get curious and started asking questions, he’d either have to come clean or skip out. To try and keep any kind of sense of normalcy, he’d usually try to come clean.

But, it never worked out. He needed the other person to be the one to figure it out. Those were the rules.

After he got _some_ of the flour out of his hair (he still felt pretty crusty) in the shower and got changed, he ate some soup and had some tea that Keith finished making. They settled together on the couch, turning on another cryptid documentary.

The air felt tense between them, like both of them knew what was actually going on and didn’t know how to ask about it. Lance started to feel a harsh panic at the idea that the hint he gave when Keith was brushing his hair was too on the nose.

Then suddenly, they both jumped in alarm at a knock at the door.

Lance whirled around, locking eyes with Keith, then staring behind them at the door. Kosmo (who had been sleeping on the carpet under the coffee table) leapt to his feet and teleported to stand protectively in front of the door.

Keith stood up quickly, looking around.

“Do you have any weapons?” he asked, casually.

“What- No, of course not!”

Keith frowned, then narrowed his eyes at the flimsy folding TV tray leaning against the wall. He raised his hands, telekinetically moving it into the air. He slowly walked to stand behind Kosmo and Lance scrambled to follow.

“Okay. I’m going to open it in three…two…one.”

They both got into a defensive position. Lance carefully lowered the wards and the door swung open by itself.

Hunk, Pidge, Allura, Coran and even Shiro was standing in the hallway. They all had smiles, except Shiro, but then lost them at their positions. Lance sighed with relief and Keith rolled his eyes, setting the TV tray down again.

“Fucking Goddess, guys. At least yell out it’s you, we have a stalker you know,” Lance said, gesturing them to come in. “And this is a one-bedroom apartment, you’re a full basketball team with benchwarmers.”

Kosmo huffed, disappearing as soon as he saw there was too many people to add him too. Lance figured he went to the shop. Keith had given a new command for Kosmo to go to the shop when needing to give Keith some space. He liked to hang out after hours with Blue.

“Sorry, buddy. Kind of forgot about that,” Hunk said, giving a guilty smile.

They all moved in and Lance was at a loss as to how to accommodate so many people. He looked at Keith for help and the boy chuckled.

“I got it covered. I’m good at moving furniture, you know,” he said, patting Lance’s arm.

Keith got to moving the living room’s furniture by cleaning off the coffee table’s magazines and cups to float over to the kitchen counter. He moved the table to sit against the wall behind the recliner and carefully pushed back the couch and two recliners that had been in a semi-circle around the TV to give more room.

Lance grinned at the display.

“Ah, magic…”

Allura gave him an amused look. “Yeah, otherwise we’d have to do that by actually pushing them. So much work.”

“Glad you agree,” Lance said, winking at her. “Now, let’s sit and chat on why you’re all here. In my apartment. Built for a single person and/or couple.”

“We’re here to help! Keith was feeling sick, right?” Hunk said, as they all gathered and sat on the couch or armchairs.

Lance and Pidge took the floor as Keith took an armchair and Hunk took the other. The more adultier adults took the couch. Lance leaned close to Keith’s legs against the chair’s leg. Pidge sat cross-legged in front of the TV.

“How are you both doing?” Coran asked, kindly.

Lance hummed, glancing to Keith behind him. Keith shrugged, giving him the go-ahead to take lead on the conversation.

“I think we’re fine,” Lance said, casually. “Made the ‘sick’ boy some soup. Except I accidentally summoned a flour bag and it exploded all over me. My hair is still gross and crusty.”

Keith chuckled, nudging him with a leg. “That made me feel ten times better than the soup. It was good, though.”

“Oh, was it my recipe? Are you finally using the recipe book?” Hunk asked, excited.

Lance grinned. “Yeah, buddy. It came out pretty good.”

“What about the stalker? Any more threats or letters?” Shiro asked, seriously. “I still don’t like you two alone in this apartment like this. I still think you both should stay with one of us.”

“Nope, not anything new,” Lance said, easily.

“Are you sure everything’s alright?” Allura asked, worried. “Keith, your energy seemed pretty off when you left.”

Keith looked away, uncomfortable. Lance checked on him and then nudged him again.

“We’re okay. Nothing really scary or spooky so far. Just Keith’s visions,” Lance said, shrugging. “And I don’t know much about those.”

“What do you mean? Doesn’t he tell you them?” Pidge asked, frowning.

Lance shook his head. “Not a one. But, it’s okay. They look pretty upsetting, it’s not like I really need to know about them.”

“You haven’t told Lance _any_ of your visions?” Pidge asked, incredulously at Keith. “You’ve been living in the same apartment for this long and not a single one?”

“No and…I’m not going to. Not unless I have to,” Keith said, firmly. “I’ve told you a million times. My visions aren’t something to broadcast. I’m not some sideshow attraction with a fucking crystal ball and tarot cards.”

They all looked between them, awkwardly. Pidge rolled their eyes.

“Yeah, yeah. But, you know that they could actually be useful if you knew how to control them better. Imagine if you could somehow use them to find this freak stalker? That could solve so many problems,” they said, pushing it more.

Lance wasn’t thinking that was something Keith wanted to hear. “Uh, Pidge-,”

“Will you stop?” Keith spat at them. “I’m not telling a _nyone_ my goddess damned visions and that’s the end of it. They’re _my_ business!”

Pidge scoffed. “ _When_ are you going to realize that any vision that isn’t just about you is their business too, huh? How many visions of Lance and this whole stalker bullshit have you had and not told anyone about, huh?”

Lance looked back at Keith quickly, straightening up. He caught the last change in Keith’s shocked and then guilty expression. He looked away from Lance’s face but he could tell.

“Pidge, that’s going too far. Keith’s never been comfortable with telling people about his visions. They aren’t perfect prophecies,” Shiro said, firmly. “You know better than to push.”

“I don’t need you to come to my rescue all the time, Shiro. I’m not a child, I can take care of myself,” Keith said, turning to his brother.

Shiro was about to fire back, when both Hunk and Lance intervened with raised hands.

“Okay, guys, let’s calm down…” Hunk said, nervously.

“Yeah, we should all take second to chill out,” Lance said, looking between them all. “We’re all stressed because of this crazy out there after us. Pidge, I’ve told Keith tons of times that he doesn’t have to tell me anything he doesn’t want to. And Keith, Shiro is just looking out for you. And Shiro, he has a point.”

All three of them frowned, then huffed and turned away. Pidge actually got up, heading for the door.

“I’m out of here. I just came to see if you both were okay. And you are. So I’m going to hang with Matt. Call me if you get murdered. Bye.”

They opened and slammed the door behind them with a sharp wave of their hand. Lance flinched at the noise and glanced to Keith warily.

Keith was glaring at his lap, then stood himself. He wordlessly walked to Lance’s bedroom and then slammed the door behind him. Lance flinched at that, too.

The party was quiet after that, then Lance sighed, slumping against the recliner.

“Well, that went well.”

The gang left just after some more time just speaking to each other. It was pretty late by that point, Coran making Lance promise to stay safe and keep protective wards up, adding that they should stay home the next day and rest up.

Lance checked the time. Nearing ten pm.

He sighed and glanced to the door of his room. For comfort he called for Blue, who appeared on the ground near his feet. She meowed at him, whipping her tail back and forth. He knelt and petted her head.

“What am I going to do with him, huh?”

Blue just blinked her eyes and meowed.

“Yeah, I guess that doesn’t really work on you. That would totally help me out, wouldn’t it?”

She purred and bonked her head against his hand harder. He sighed, his eyes going back up to look at his still silent room.

“I should probably go check on him, huh?”

Lance walked over and quietly knocked against the door.

“Keith? Are you-ah, uh…will you let me in?”

A few beats of silence. Lance’s hands clenched and he reached for the door handle. He paused just before he turned it, then lost the nerve. He put a hand against the wood.

“Keith…if you don’t want me to come in, just say something. Everyone’s gone, it’s just me now.”

Blue sat at his feet, looking curiously between him and the door. She meowed at him. Lance sighed, for the millionth time and deflated. He was about to turn to leave, when the door opened.

Keith rubbed at his eyes, yawning. He groggily looked up at Lance, confused.

“Lance?” he asked, croaking.

Then Lance noticed the red-rimmed eyes and pale face. _Nightmare._

“Are you-,” he sighed. “Do you want me to leave you the bed so you can sleep more? I can take the couch this time.”

Keith’s still teary-eyes widened and he shook his head. “No, no. I should take the couch. I didn’t mean to fall asleep. It wasn’t exactly restful either, so I probably won’t be able to sleep the rest of the night anyway.”

“Wha-what are you-,” Lance stopped himself. He took a deep breath, looking down to Blue. “You should take the bed if you’re not sleeping well. It can help.”

Keith looked suspicious about something, but then wiped it from his face. He looked behind at the bed and then back at Lance.

“I think Pidge might be right. I think…I think I need to tell you about my visions. They’ve gotten a lot worse….and they have to do with you. I just had another one,” Keith said, quietly. “And then…I have something to ask you about.”

Lance froze, heart seizing in fear. “Oh, u-uh, are-are you sure?”

Keith’s eyes jumped to his face. “No, I’m not sure. Not by a long shot.”

He blinked a few times, then looked confused by his own answer. Lance nearly cursed out loud. That was too direct and that was too obvious. Keith turned concentrated, like he was trying to solve a hard equation. He then had a distinctly open expression and his eyes widened.

“That’s…that’s it…”

Lance stepped back. Keith did it. Keith figured it out.

Keith grabbed his hand, pulling him into his room. Keith opened his hand, a few candles lit around the room. Lance’s heart pounded with fear and confusion.

“Ah, Keith…I-I can explain, listen there’s…”

Keith turned him and pushed him to sit on the bed. He plopped onto the bed next to him, tensing his arms against his legs, fingers squeezing his knees. He stared intently at his hands and took a few deep breaths.

“The past year or so I think I’ve been seeing my own death.”

Lance’s breath was knocked out of him. He stared at Keith’s face, horrified.

“Wha-What? How-uh, when-uh, wha-wha?”

Keith’s mouth twitched. “It started even before I got threatening letters. Maybe it happened whenever that person decided to stalk me. Something changed in the timeline. People’s choices are what triggers my visions. When someone decides something that could lead to something happening to me or someone I know, I get a vision. And what I saw…was myself. On the ground, with a knife in my back.”

Lance’s hands were shaking with terror, coming up to grip at his still gross hair.

“Oh...okay…fucking o-okay….Goddess, o-okay…”

“Breathe. Calm down. Again, things change when people make decisions. And people are choosing different things all the time. In a second all of this could change again.”

Lance looked over and he felt his eyes burn with tears. “But, it hasn’t. You said you’ve been seeing the same thing for a _year?”_

“Yeah,” Keith said, immediately. He blinked again, then sighed. “For the most part. Sometimes, it’d be different. For a few months, it’d be the same. Knife in back, lying in the grass. A black figure standing over my body, completely unrecognizable. Then it changed. The knife slashed at my throat, then changed again so it sliced at my legs and arms before getting buried in my chest. As time went on, things got worse. Seeing the visions made my nose bleed and I would get weak. I couldn’t sleep through the night. I could barely eat. I was…sure that I was going to die pretty soon. I even thought about getting a will in order. Giving all I had to Shiro and Pidge. But, then…it changed again.”

Keith looked him fully, then. His eyes were in so much turmoil and pain it made Lance even more terrified.

“It changed when you came into my life.”

Lance was afraid to ask. But, he knew he had to.

“How?”

Keith squeezed his eyes shut, seemingly in preparation for the magic.

“I started seeing your death, too.”


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's finally answers

Keith figured out Lance’s secret.

And he didn’t care at all.

He cared that Lance looked so stricken and heartbroken of Keith’s visions that Keith started to cry again.

“Wait, no don’t-Keith, I-I, it’s okay…”

Keith shook his head, burying it in his hands and curling in on himself. Lance wrapped an arm around his back and another over the other side of his head.

“Goddess, you’ve been getting these visions for…and not telling anyone…I’m so sorry, Keith. That must have been terrible…”

_It was. I’m in so much goddess damned pain all the time._

He only cried harder. And whispered what really went through his head when he saw Lance.

“I’m so sorry, so sorry, sorrysorrysorrysorry…” he whispered, trembling.

“Hey, hey. Sshh, stop. Stop…”

Lance got off the bed, kneeling on the ground in front of him, very reminiscent of their scene in the shop’s back room. He was crying too, though. That was different.

“Stop beating yourself up for things you can’t control. I’m not someone that’s going to get mad at you for something that’s a part of you and for someone else’s actions. You’re not close to being at fault,” he said, carefully wrapping up Keith’s hands and letting them fall from his face.

Keith stared into Lance’s bright blue kind eyes. “I don’t think you are someone like that. And…know that I’m not either.”

Lance’s eyes widened, then his breath shuttered. His head lowering, their joined hands gathering in Keith’s lap.

“You _have_ figured it out, haven’t you?”

Keith felt the magic take hold of him, finally being aware of it made it easy to notice it. He nodded, releasing Lance’s hands and cupping Lance’s cheeks. He used his thumbs to wipe Lance’s tears gently.

“Yeah. I have.”

Lance’s lip quivered and his eyes were wide with fear.

“How are you not more angry? Or-or even bothered? Scared? I-I don’t get it. No one’s…no one’s been so casual about it!”

Keith chuckled wetly. “Lance, I’ve been seeing your whole ass _death_ along with my own for weeks. The idea of you having some kind of truth charm spell on you is not even close to scaring me.”

“I-wha-,” Lance always seemed to stutter when he was thrown off. “Seriously? Not at all?”

“No,” Keith said, completely honest. He had to be, after all. “Although, since I told you about what’s been happening to me, you can tell me how this happened to you.”

Lance sighed, sniffling and wiping at his eyes more. He sat back on his legs, making Keith lose contact with his face. Blue came over from where she was sitting in the doorway, meowing and bonking her head against Lance’s arm.

“It’s…kind of a long story,” Lance said, reluctantly. “But, essentially…whenever I ask someone a direct question, they have to tell me the entire truth. Complete honesty.”

“Were you born with it?” Keith asked, finally drying of tears. “Like my visions?”

Lance shook his head. “When I was a kid, I was pretty…let’s just say I never took that phrase ‘curiosity killed the cat’ very seriously. I have both excitable magic and personality. And as a kid, that was ten times it is now, if you can believe it. In my hometown, I would run around and get into all kinds of trouble. Usually it was all harmless, you know? But…one day my older brother dared me to go ask this older woman in our town about whether or not she killed her husband. She was the town’s ghost story, really. The very normal ‘creepy house on the hill’. Little did any of us know, that she was a really powerful mage. I went and asked her, obviously not thinking that a question from some dumb neighborhood kid would really upset her that much.”

Keith listened intently. Lance’s face hardened at this next part.

“She started screaming at me. Saying that one day, asking too many questions was going to get me in trouble. Then she cursed me.”

Lance laughed, humorlessly. “Well, kind of. She said it was a blessing. To teach me a lesson. She said it was supposed to wear off, only lasting a month or something. So, I would ask people questions, they would give me completely honest answers. That next month or so, might have been the worst of my life. Found out way too many things I never, ever wanted to know about my family. Some people really think that knowledge is power, but let me tell you the actual truth…”

His eyes looked up, darkened and hazy.

“Ignorance is bliss.”

Keith understood that better than maybe anyone on Earth.

“It really is,” he said, nodding.

Lance hummed, nodding back. He fell back to sit properly on the ground, bringing his knees up and crossing his arms on them.

“You get it, I’m sure. Well, that month or so passed and it didn’t wear off. So, I went back to the woman, demanding her to take it away. I begged on my hands and knees. I yelled and cried, saying that it was horrible. She was confused that I ever went back, then she did diagnostic spells. She said she didn’t know I had magic. She was really scared and guilty. She said she would have done the spell differently if she knew. But, my magic…so excitable and jumpy, immediately latched on the quote unquote ‘blessing’. Wove it so deep into my own magic, that it was part of me.”

“And…now it’s permanent?” Keith asked, leaning forward.

Lance’s hand went to his chest, nodding. “I’ve tried everything. My parents found Coran, one of the best curse breakers in the world, to try and get me free. Coran didn’t know how to help, but I wanted…away from my family. I couldn’t look at their scared or horrified faces anymore. So, I asked for him to take me here, to the states. He had some connections with some mages that faked my papers and used some well-placed confusion charms. I was eleven when I immigrated. Ten years. I haven’t seen Cuba or my family in real life in ten years. Because I’m still cursed. Every single time I go to ask a question or just talk to someone, I have to overanalyze every single word and the inflection of my voice. That’s the reason I don’t have an accent or anything. I know English almost better than Spanish at this point.”

Keith took a deep breath, absorbing the information.

“So, that’s why you keep re-phrasing your questions all the time. You don’t want to ask personal questions and get answers you don’t actually want to hear,” he said, putting the pieces together.

Lance glanced up at him, with a dark amusement.

“Well, kind of. I mean, when you think about it, never having to doubt people when they answer your question s _eems_ good. And…I mean, I like knowing that in some situations I’ll always know someone’s actual thoughts. But, just think of when people ask how you are as the most harmless question as a greeting. If someone asked you that, with my curse enacted, think about what your answer would be. Would it be uncomfortable? Would you regret saying it?”

Keith thought about it, then immediately almost cringed at the idea.

“Yeah. Yeah it would be. I would regret it.”

Lance nodded, cringing too. “ _That’s_ what I hate most. Not hearing things that make me uncomfortable but _forcing_ people to tell me about things they don’t want to. That’s what made my family look at me like I was a monster. Because they were afraid of what they would accidentally tell me.”

Lance’s lip quivered again, looking down. He sniffled, as new waves of tears fell down his face. Keith reached down, taking one of Lance’s hands in his own.

“I’m sorry. I’m really sorry, Lance.”

Lance sniffled again, his other hand coming up to cover over his eyes.

“I can’t believe you aren’t more freaked out about this? I could ask you anything and you wouldn’t be able to lie to me. Doesn’t that-you’re always so private and you don’t want anyone pushing into your privacy. How does this make-,” Lance said, cutting off again at the end, biting his lip and covering his mouth.

Keith sighed, leaning even further forward to set his elbows on his knees. “If you’re asking how I really feel, I’m telling the truth. It doesn’t bother me at all. Because I know that I trust you. I know you won’t ask me anything I won’t be comfortable with. You haven’t so far. And I can tell you what I don’t want you asking about. And that’s not to say that I won’t one day tell you about those things, but that’s not the point, right?”

Lance slowly uncovered his mouth, eyes flicking back up. “Yeah. Yeah, that’s not the point.”

“Can I ask some more questions?”

Lance nodded, standing up and sitting back down on the bed, next to Keith. Their hands still stayed entwined.

“Why did you tell me that I had to figure it out myself? Once I started getting suspicious or whatever, wouldn’t it just be easier to tell me?” Keith asked, confused.

“Ah, that’s actually…” Lance grimaced. “The other part of the curse. My lips are completely sealed on the matter until the other person confronts me about it. Which is why it’s so hard and complicated nowadays to meet new people. And they need to figure out at least one half of the problem. Like either the questioning or the truth part. Pidge got really close but didn’t actually say ‘question’. They said ‘sentence’. Which is why I couldn’t say anything.”

Keith hummed. “Oh, okay. So, next is why do you change the phrasing on even the most regular of questions? You’ve really only asked me something directly a few times.”

“I guess…” Lance said, cocking his head. “I guess it’s kind of part of that whole ‘forcing’ thing. Like, if I ask someone about something even remotely important, even if _I_ don’t think that it would be that big of a deal for them to tell me the truth…I don’t know, I’ve found that it’s a better idea to let them at least have a choice in lying to me.”

Keith had to sit and think about that whole idea for a few seconds. That _had_ to give someone a fucked-up view of honesty. Keith had always thought that his past and his abilities had fucked with his view of companionship and trust, but he was almost ashamed for not considering that maybe Lance’s past could have affected him in his own way.

“Anything else?” Lance asked, curiously.

Keith blinked out of his concentration. “Oh, uh yeah. One more. Are…are you okay?”

Lance sighed, relaxing into an affectionate smile. “Sometimes. Sometimes I am. Right now…I think I am. Probably the okayest I’ve been in a while. You’re the first person I’ve ever told this to that hasn’t immediately gotten freaked about it.”

“I admit, some of it does make me feel kind of…wary. Just the idea of someone, anyone…having that kind of power. If you had told me sooner, I think I’d have gotten a lot more upset about it. But, after everything? I’m pretty okay with it.”

Keith squeezed his hand. “I have some more…about my visions. There’s more.”

“But, do you actually want to tell me?” Lance asked, perfectly purposeful.

Keith chuckled. “No. No, I don’t at all.”

“Then, why don’t we take a break?” Lance suggested, nudging Keith a little with his shoulder. “It’s really late. We can pick this up in the morning.”

Keith hesitated. He actually wanted to keep…being around Lance. They didn’t need to keep talking or anything. He just wanted to stay close to him.

“Okay. But…uh, I’m still not sleeping so well…” Keith said, awkwardly.

Lance looked at him then down at the bed, then he cleared his throat, looking away.

“Uh, well…we don’t have to give up the bed. Either of us, I mean…” he said, scratching at the back of his head. “If it helps, I always slept better next to someone when I was a kid. It doesn’t…have to be weird or anything, right?”

Keith quickly relaxed. “No. Not weird at all. Although, again…I don’t know if I’ll have more nightmares….I haven’t actually slept next to someone in a long time.”

Lance gently wiped Keith’s hair from his face, smiling affectionately. “If you do then I’ll just wake you up and cuddle you. You’re not getting out of that one, no matter how emo and edgy you can try to be.”

“Oh…” Keith said, dumbfounded. “Well, okay. I guess I’m okay with that.”

Lance grinned, scooting and laying back against the pillows and Keith followed suit next to him. They laid on their backs, both still nervously fidgeting. Lance patting the edge of the bed at the ground and Blue jumped up, meowing and stepping over their legs. Keith chuckled, lifting his hand and letting the cat sniff his fingers.

“How’d you find her?” Keith asked, quietly.

Lance looked over, as Blue padded to snuggle up against Lance’s bicep between them.

“Oh, that’s actually a short story. It was a few years after I came to the states. Coran and the two of us, Allura and I, had this little house in Florida. While Allura was studying up to be the badass mage she is now, I was an awkward kid that liked getting into trouble, as always. One day, I was running around town, on my own and everything. But, I heard a little kitten cry down an alley. Found this beautiful girl as a little baby, all tied up in a trash can. Of course, I was…fourteen or something and immediately brought her out, trying to make sure she was alive and okay. Turns out, she was a familiar. We bonded immediately.”

Keith slowly smiled, already picturing that in full view. “You got a thing for saving people, huh?”

Lance looked over, curious. “Huh? Do you think I do?”

“Well, yeah,” he said, shrugging. “I mean you took one look at me after I was a complete asshole to you and still thought ‘yeah, I’m going to save this guy’ and here we are.”

Lance sputtered out a surprised laugh. “What? That’s what you think I thought when I saw you?”

“Is it not?”

He hummed, sitting back with an arm under his head. “No, not really. Well, of course when I heard about all that, I thought ‘I want to help’, but not really _saving_ you. It’s more like…support. That’s all some people really need. Is some support.”

Keith turned to look up at the ceiling, thinking about that. “Do you need more support in your life?”

Lance’s body tensed a little and Keith glanced over, wondering if that was too personal. But, Lance had just turned to him, open and vulnerable in a lot of ways.

“I…I haven’t really asked for it. I have people….but I want to find ways to support myself. Plus, how is anyone going to really help me when I’m just a lost cause?” he said, softly.

Keith huffed and his mouth quirked. “You’re not any kind of lost cause. You know, Lance….I’m thinking we’ve got a lot in common. I think that way about myself all the time. Maybe I should ask it differently…do you _want_ more support in your life?”

Lance sucked in his bottom lip, thoughtful. Keith stared at the movement, transfixed.

“Are you offering?”

Keith shrugged. “I think so.”

Lance slowly moved and hand to grip at Keith’s between them, entwining their fingers. Keith stared right into Lance’s swirling tumbling blue eyes. The fairy lights in the room that had dimmed glowed brighter for some reason.

“Yeah. I think I do.”


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance has a minor Keith-related crisis, while they bond over their shared magical trauma
> 
> TW// discussion about school shootings and mass shooters, also mention of the Columbine shooting  
> i swear it makes sense in the context, but anyone who doesn't want to read about that, i'll leave a short description of what happened in the notes on the bottom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AH Y'ALL i'm so sorry about being all sporadic about this stuff, but finals have been right KICKING MY ASS and i'm quite tired and off my game, but I'm almost done with everything just one more final to go, then I'm going to right back into my schedule with both this one and my prince/bodyguard au  
> also I'll put in the recent art from Sony in the chapters they sent with this one, so go still look those over cause they give me such joy and comfort  
> I'll also maybe drop a one-shot or two this month as a holiday gift (they won't be holiday themed or related)

Lance was in t _rouble._

He was in deep, horrible, awful, life-ruining trouble.

The next day, as Keith was s _till s_ leeping, obviously from those months of goddess-awful sleeping habits. It was quite late in the morning, considering they had gotten to sleep before midnight, that meant that Lance was up and settling into his panic.

Because he was in awful, terrible, deep, deep _trouble._

He couldn’t take it anymore and he pulled out his phone, heading out the door, sitting on the steps leading up to his apartment. He bit the skin around his nail, nervously tapping his foot as the call rang in his ear.

“Lance? Is everything okay?”

“Hunk, buddy…” he said, sighing with relief. “I am _fucked._ I am in so much goddess damned trouble.”

Hunk’s breath stuttered in alarm. “What happened? Where are you? Did something happen? Where’s Keith? Is he okay?”

“Oh right, that was probably alarming from someone who’s currently being stalked by a maybe serial killer…” Lance muttered, having absolutely forgotten that in the middle of his _panic._

Hunk paused, then sighed audibly. “Lance, what is happening?”

“Listen…Keith….I like him,” he said, importantly. “Like… _like_ him like him. Very much. Very really much.”

Hunk paused again, then clicked his tongue, irritated. “Lance, you’re my best friend and I love you. But what the actual _fuck_ are you doing to my heart by calling me at work and saying all that while you’re being s _talked_ and then just telling me something I _already know?”_

Lance straightened and blinked in surprise. “ _Huh?”_

__

“Of course, I know you like Keith. All of us know you like Keith. Dude, he’s _living_ with you now. Honestly, I thought you were just going to call at some point and tell me you’re actually dating and that’s the end of it. Did not know this was going to be a whole _thing._ Like middle school or something.”

Lance gasped, offended. “Who _hurt_ you?”

Hunk chuckled. “You’re lucky that your little blessing doesn’t work over the phone, or else this would become a therapy session. I’m sorry, I had to be here really early today. I’m grumpy. And you called me, telling me something that was completely _obvious_ to me.”

“Well, what do I _do?”_ Lance asked, desperately. “I can’t like him! It’s all fucked in our lives and I can’t just be all swooning every damn time he takes off his gloves!”

Hunk sighed, exasperated. “I’m at work, Lance. Call me later if you actually have something important to say. You’ll have to deal with your weird glove kink later.”

Lance scoffed as the line cut off and he stared down at his phone, gaping in disbelief. He groaned, slumping and rubbing at his goddess damn _still_ crusty hair. He sighed and stood up, going back in the apartment, re-energizing the wards. He looked around at his bedroom, still silent.

He went back to check on the other man sleeping in his bed. Which that thought totally didn’t send him off the deep end.

Goddess, he was pathetic.

Lance opened the door, about to go through his clothes and get ready to hang out for the day, when he froze at the scene in the bed.

Keith’s face was scrunched, hair plastered against his head from sweat and breathing heavily. His eyelids were twitching, hands clenching in the sheets. Lance hurried over to crawl on the other side of his bed, hand coming over to hover in the air.

“Keith? Keith, are you okay?”

He didn’t respond, arms starting to shake and then, with alarm, Lance looked around the room to see several books and candles and crystals started floating through the air. He yelped as a book flew and crashed against the wall and had to duck under a shoe aiming for his head. He looked back down and noted that Keith’s nose started dripping blood again.

Lance grabbed Keith’s shoulder, shaking him. “Keith, wake up! Wake up!”

Keith’s eyes shot open and all the objects crashed down to the ground in thuds. Lance sat back as Keith sat up quickly, breathing hard and still clutching at the sheets. He looked at Lance, wide-eyed and clouded with the dredges of the dream…or vision?

“A-are you-ah, mm…” Lance said, unable to really know what he was allowed to do in that situation. He might have _said_ he would cuddle Keith if he had a nightmare, but he didn’t actually want to force him into anything he didn’t want to do.

Keith wiped under his nose, looking at the blood. He sighed.

“Sorry…”

His voice was weak and trembling. Lance shook his head, quickly summoning the tissues from the bedside table.

“Here. Do you want to talk about it?” he asked, gently.

Keith took the tissues, then hesitated at the question. “I…Yeah, I do. L-later though.”

Lance nodded. “What do you need right now?”

Keith blinked at him, then completely by magic, said the most honest thing Lance had ever heard him say.

“I’d like another hug…”

Lance melted, pulling in Keith to his chest, running a comforting hand over his back. Keith’s hands unclenched from the sheets to gently splay on Lance’s lower back. He was trembling a little, which made Lance squeeze tighter.

“It was bad…” Lance stated, not a question, but obviously a leading statement to mean the same thing. A chance for Keith to brush him off.

He didn’t.

“Yeah. It was bad. One of the worst I’ve had…” Keith said, softly. “I don’t know how much more I can take of this. I just want it all to stop…”

Lance squeezed his eyes shut at how broken and tired Keith sounded, sighing. “I’m so sorry. Goddess, I wish I knew how to help.”

Keith didn’t respond, just trembled less. Kosmo appeared at the foot of the bed, whining at Keith’s distress. Lance let Keith hold on to him for as long as he needed, rubbing his back and stroking the back of his hair.

“What if everything _does_ come true?” Keith asked after a while, so soft that Lance almost didn’t hear it. “What if-what if meeting me means that you die?”

Lance clicked his tongue, pulling away and bent his head, carefully cupping Keith’s cheeks so that he would look at Lance.

“Listen, Keith. I don’t really know what’s real or not in your visions. I don’t know what you know, so I’m not going to pretend I understand what you’re feeling. But, what I’m concerned about is that you’ve been seeing your _own_ death for a year and you weren’t even worried about stopping it. Of course, I don’t want to die. It scares me that you see that. But I’d rather have that fortune than never have met you. You’ve changed my entire life,” Lance said, gently wiping away Keith’s tears and blood on his face.

“And I want to help you. I want to support you. You’ve been alone at this for so long and I know that it’s been painful and awful. If that means that I might be in more danger, then so be it. Fine by me. Bring it on.”

Keith deflated, then nodded in Lance’s hands. Lance lowered his hands to pat his shoulders.

“I’m making you chocolate chip pancakes,” he said, standing up. “Come on, it’s Sunday morning, we don’t have work because we’re grounded for stalker reasons.”

He reached out a hand, inviting. Keith took it in his ungloved hand and a thrill went up Lance’s spine.

Goddess, he was so fucked.

“Okay, but you _do_ get other kinds of visions other than just impending death and doom, right?” Lance asked, as they sat at the counter, chewing on their pancakes and drinking both their incredibly doctored up coffees.

Keith nodded, chin in his palm, exhausted. “I’d only seen deaths in passing, when some adults forced me to shake their hands or hug them. I would sometimes see their future accidents or if they were older, I would see their natural deaths. When I was a kid, it was just two or three times, but as I got older, it would get more and more. That’s when I started wearing my gloves. I’ve seen maybe two dozen deaths?”

He cringed a little, glancing over to Lance. “Uh…not including…yours…”

Lance grimaced, shivering. “Goddess…that’s awful. I’ve only had one time where my curse got that far. That was probably the worst day of my life.”

Keith furrowed his brows and straightened, looking over. “What? What happened?”

Lance sighed, absentmindedly swirling his coffee. He hated remembering what happened that time.

“In high school, Coran put me in a human public school for a bit. Trying to get me to have a normal apple pie American life. Ha, yeah right…” he said, darkly. He paused, still unnerved by what happened. He kept going, thinking maybe since he had something similar happen to him, that he could relate to Keith a little.

“Well, in one of my classes, we were learning about…human school shootings,” Lance said, getting quieter. “The teacher put us in groups to look over a case file of a certain shooting. I was in a group with this kid that….uh, let’s just say he had some baggage. The literal assignment was to ask each other questions about the psychology that makes a school shooter.”

He glanced over to Keith, who seemed to catch on to what happened. His face drained of color, mouth agape.

“Oh…oh my Goddess….” Keith breathed out.

Lance sighed again, nodding. “Yeah, I think you can get the picture. One question from me. I think it was ‘what would push someone into doing something like that?’ or something. And this kid…just spilled his guts. Started raving about how if people were inherently evil, then they deserved what was coming to them…something about how we were all next….that he was going to teach us all a lesson…”

Lance’s heart pounded, hearing the kid’s voice again in his ear, like it was happening again. The magic that compelled him to telling the entire group about his plans for the next shooting that would change the world. His voice had been so guttural and distinct, obviously trying to fight the compulsion with everything he had. Lance’s hand started to shake at the memory.

“Of course, our entire group heard what he said. After he was done, he had basically shouted the last bits, so the room was just….deadly silent. I’ll never forget how that kid looked. His-his eyes…Like he was just….” He trailed off, unable to describe the look in his eye. “The teacher called in the security officer, but the kid tried to run. The police got there and arrested him, searched his house. Found a whole mess of guns and an entire written up manifesto. He had been planning for months. He was going to do it on the anniversary of Columbine.”

“Fucking….fucking hell,” Keith whispered, horrified.

Lance chuckled, completely humorless. “Yeah…I went home that day after giving my testimony to the police and told Coran I was never going back to public school. He let me get my GED online after that.”

They both sat silently as they ate after that, both lost in their own trauma. Lance took a long deep breath after finishing his coffee, looking over to Keith.

“Would-ah, hm…” he was about to ask something, then stopped himself, still unsure if it was okay.

Keith caught his eye, tilting his head in confusion. “What?”

Lance pursed his lips, then sighed. “Want to watch a dumb barely any plot romcom so we don’t have to think about our horrible lives for like an hour and a half?”

Keith snorted, nodding. “Yeah, let’s do that.”

On the couch, Lance settled with his feet up on the coffee table and Keith very close to him, legs tucked to the side. He turned on Netflix and flipped through the movies, unable to make a decision.

“13 Going on 30?” Lance offered, picking it out.

And without Keith even being able to answer, the instant play enacted and it started. Lance huffed.

“Well, I guess Netflix decided for us. Goddess, I hate that update.”

Keith chuckled, finally relaxing a little, leaning into Lance’s space even more. Lance’s mouth twitched, trying not to smile.

Their familiars added themselves to the party, Blue appearing behind their heads on the back of the couch and Kosmo under Lance’s outstretched legs.

Lance was still disoriented by how…fucked up both of their lives were. He couldn’t help ruminating on his own memories of secrets spilled to him without consent and the eyes of a would-be mass murderer. He couldn’t pay attention to the movie at all, not even a Mark Ruffalo able to distract him from his own traumatized mind.

“You’re not making any commentary…”

Lance startled out of his losing himself, looking down at Keith, who looked sympathetic. He sighed, cringing.

“Sorry…just….I haven’t talked about that kid in years. As soon as it happened and was over, I never wanted to mention it again and Coran and Allura never did. Hunk doesn’t even know about that,” he said, quietly. “That’s like…now my worst nightmare. To talk to someone like that again.”

Keith nodded, looking concerned. “I’m sorry for all this. I’m sorry all this brought up bad memories.”

Lance leaned closer, carefully linking their elbows and shook his head. “Again, none of this is your fault. Don’t blame yourself.”

Keith sighed, turning back to the movie and slowly setting his head on Lance’s shoulder. Lance’s heart surged in he felt his ears heat up. He kept himself calm and cool, gently laying his head against Keith’s.

A few more minutes passed, with Lance finally being able to focus back into the movie.

“Okay, but like…straight up, I’ve never been able to decide if this movie is fucked up or not because this girl is thirteen in her head. You know? Like I get the premise and I get that it’s like…time warping stuff, but she’s still like falling for him as a thirteen-year-old. I can’t figure out if that’s weird or not,” Lance said, frowning.

Keith snorted against Lance’s shoulder. The small bit of tension Lance had felt from him leaked out.

“In her defense, I’d probably risk it all for a Mark Ruffalo at thirteen, too,” Keith said, chuckling.

Lance laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so for those that didn't want to read about it:  
> in summary, Lance went to high school for a bit, but accidentally got a kid to spill his plans to do a school shooting and that made Lance quit school and get his GED online


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance makes a stunning breakthrough, suggesting something that makes Keith wonder just how far they were going to go

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don't look too hard at the latin, please. it's a dead language no one speaks it anymore it just looks cool lmao  
> also if you do like...somehow know latin then like message me because i have a thousand questions on what you're doing with your life and how i can be like you

Keith stayed home that Monday, meditating desperately. He needed to see what was going on. He had to be sure.

He got flashes, violent images of both him and Lance sprawled in grass, blood soaking through their clothes and staining the ground. It was always night. Many times, it was wet or raining. Keith’s gloves were always on Lance’s hands.

When? _When?_

But, it didn’t show it to him. No times, no watches, no clocks, no calendars.

He forced himself out of the vision, angrily. The candles around him burst in a flame, reflecting his emotions. He let out a groan of frustration.

Kosmo across from him whined, paw coming up to swipe through the air.

Keith sighed, setting his pounding head in his hands and didn’t even check to see if he was bleeding. He knew he was.

“What do I _do?”_

Keith just had become convinced that they were going to die. Probably together.

He let out a yell of frustration and flopped onto his back, sprawling out between the candles around him. A definite fire hazard, but Keith wasn’t in the mood to care.

A knock sounded at the door.

“Keith? Do-ah, uh…” there was an audible sigh. “Can I help?”

Keith hastily wiped at his nose, smearing the blood across his face. He spelled open the door, not even getting up from the ground. He was exhausted.

Lance’s hand froze in the air to knock again, then he frowned at Keith on the ground.

“I don’t know if you can help.”

Lance hummed, walking in and snuffing out the candles with a wave of his hand. He settled on the edge of the bed, leaning forward as Keith put away the candles with his mind. He didn’t even bother holding up a hand.

Lance looked impressed by that. “Woah. I didn’t know you could just do that without even directing it.”

“I don’t like doing it with just my mind…it freaks people out more,” Keith mumbled, head falling back to stare at the ceiling.

“What time is it?”

“I just got back from classes. Wanted to check up on you.”

Keith nodded. “Well, I feel like shit. So there, now you can go to work.”

Lance chuckled, shaking his head. “I don’t think I will. I’ll call in today, too. Coran would understand.”

“You don’t need to do that. I can take care of myself,” Keith said, irritated.

“Beg to differ, hotshot,” Lance said, pointing to the blood still on his face.

Keith sighed, contemplating just throwing himself out a window. Not seriously, obviously.

Well…maybe that would take care of things…probably save Lance’s life…

“Your face is making me worried.”

“ _How_ are you so scarily perceptive? _I’m_ the psychic one, here,” Keith said, hiking himself up to his elbows and gaping at Lance.

Lance huffed. “I’ve spent half my life analyzing body language in case I could ask a question or not. It’s not a science, but if it was, I would get a gods damn Nobel Prize.”

“That _is_ a science, Lance. It’s called behavioral analysis. And it creeps me out.”

“Then stop moping on the ground and tell me how we can figure this crazy shit out together. Then I won’t have to study you like a lab rat,” he said, narrowing his eyes.

Keith sighed, again. He stood up, rubbing at his aching head. He wondered if he was going to get brain damage from this constant, perpetual migraine. He thought about the window again.

“Yeah, you might be right. I’m probably going to really need therapy after all this,” Keith muttered, referencing one of their first full conversations they had after Keith basically moved in.

Lance seemed to remember and he chuckled. “You know…I probably could have used therapy a long time ago.”

“Do they have mage therapists? I’ve never heard of them,” Keith asked, sitting next to Lance on the bed with his legs crossed.

“There are mages that become like…doctors and stuff. Maybe you just need to know the right people,” Lance said, humming thoughtfully.

“Oh yeah, Shiro’s fiancé is a doctor. But he’s not a psychologist. Back in my orphan days, I knew tons of human counsellors. They all just made me feel worse.”

“’Back in my orphan days’ he says…” Lance mumbled, bothered.

He then frowned, shaking his head. “That was because they made you out to be some violent angry kid that was about to snap at any point. You had magic and didn’t even know it. How-ah, uh…they couldn’t help you in the way you needed.”

Keith nodded. “Yeah…true.”

“But, now you have people to help you. Like me.”

Keith’s heart stuttered in his chest and he took a shy glance to Lance, but blinked at the contemplative look on Lance’s face.

“What are you thinking about?” Keith asked, nervously.

Lance slowly brought up his fist under his chin to concentrate. “Maybe that’s it…”

“What’s it?”

“Maybe that’s why the stalker doesn’t like me…” Lance said, looking as though a lightbulb went off. “That whole ‘support’ and ‘help’ part. Maybe this person _knows_ me and knows that I would somehow get you to talk to me. Open up and tell me about everything…”

Keith furrowed his brows in confusion. “Okay…but why would that be a bad thing?”

Lance shot to his feet, looking like he was a man on a mission. “Keith, it all makes sense, now! This person has to know _both_ of us in real life. And knew before we met that we would get along and I’d jump in to help you. Your visions are getting worse because this person _hates_ that we’re getting closer. And I bet you that there’s a good reason why…”

“Like what?” Keith asked, still not understanding.

Lance scurried over to his bookshelves, searching through the dusty volumes. “I think it’s because we’re somehow compatible, not only _personality_ wise, but _magic._ I think being with each other makes us stronger somehow and the person is worried that you’ll get too powerful with me on your side.”

“ _Huh?”_

Keith was wondering if maybe in the midst of this _Lance_ somehow got brain damage.

“What are you even talking about? How on Earth would that make sense?”

Lance made a noise like ‘aha!’ and pulled out a heavy tome of a grimoire from his personal collection. He heaved it onto his desk next to the bed, coughing as a puff of dust spattered into the air.

Keith turned himself to face Lance as he sat at the desk, opening up the book.

“This is one of the oldest and most powerful grimoires that Coran had ever collected,” Lance explained, carefully flipping the pages. “This is from a mage all the way back before the Black Death. She had a specialty in….”

He landed on a page, pointing to the title.

“There. Bonding magic.”

Keith balked. “Wait…you’re not suggesting a goddess damn _mage soul bond,_ are you?”

“Precisely!” Lance said, imitating Coran’s strange accent. “This person knows how powerful we are on our own and is worried that we could come together to fight them off without any problem. And by the looks of our familiars, it seems like we are really magically compatible. I mean, they basically loved each other the second they met! That never happens!”

Keith was way, way in over his head. Lance was just _casually_ bringing up something so binding and fucking intense as a mage soul bond, as if it was just using another amplifying crystal.

“Lance, as mage soul bond is _forever._ And most don’t even survive the convergence! That’s crazy. Why would they think we would do that?”

Lance turned to him, with a conniving smirk. “Because we _are_ going to do it.”

Keith’s heart may have stopped altogether at that. No need for any window. Lance killed him on the spot, one shot: do not resuscitate.

“No, we’re not. Did you not hear the _forever_ part? _And_ that would mean that our _magic_ would combine _forever._ If we even gods damn _survive…_ that means you would live with visions forever, too. And I would have that curse on me, too. We would live with each other’s nightmare magics!”

Keith tried to explain the absurdity, desperately. To get Lance to understand that the idea was absolute _madness._

Lance rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Obviously, this would be a last resort situation. We learn this incantation, slowly build it up between us. If we are ever somehow in trouble together, then we can just bond on the spot. This is what the person is worried about. I’m willing to go the extra mile for you. I’m willing to pledge this forever with you.”

Keith reeled back with gusto. “Goddess…Lance, _why?_ I’m not worth _any_ of that!”

“But you are, Keith.”

Lance was stunningly serious when he said that. His eyes burned straight into Keith’s soul.

“You’re worth it. I’m promising to help you. And if that actually means forever, then so be it.”

Keith slowly let out a long breath. “I’m…I don’t…I don’t want you to just…give up your life like that for me…that’s… _insane…”_

“It’s just a last resort. We’ll do a few magics convergence sessions, building up the recognition. Then…we may never finish it. But, I mean…I’m not exaggerating at all when I tell you I’m willing to go all the way,” Lance said, firmly. Bright blue eyes were still stuck on his.

“I already want you in my life forever. This would just be a sprinkle on top.”

Keith sucked in his bottom lip, biting hard.

_Goddess, what has my life come to?_

“O-….o-okay,” Keith mumbled, still stunned. “Last resort. We just memorize the final binding spell. We don’t do it unless we absolutely have to. And…and we both have to agree to it.”

“Cool. So here, let’s get started.”

When Lance had offered the bonding spell, it was entirely serious. He wasn’t dumb enough to think that Keith would take to the idea immediately, though. He knew that this was almost the same as asking for marriage in the magics community.

But, he figured that this was an emergency situation.

Their lives were in possible danger here. If Keith needed a boost in power so that his visions could become clearer and more direct, then Lance was willing to sell his soul for it. No biggie.

As they sat on Lance’s floor, they lit candles around them and their familiars sat outside the circle, offering support.

Keith’s eyes were bloodshot and his face was still pale from constant insomnia. Lance was willing to sell his soul to get rid of that look, too.

Lance brought up his hand, the grimoire floating next to them, stuck on the start of a magics convergence spell.

“Okay, this one we don’t need anything else other than each other. The next few spells after will be with some incense burning and then with crystals, too. We can’t do that yet, because it’ll get too much,” Lance explained, letting Keith memorize the incantation.

Keith nodded when he was ready.

They took one deep breath together, then Lance took initiative to hold out his palms. Keith slowly set his palms over them and then they stared into each other’s eyes.

In unison, they chanted in Latin.

“ _Nos ad incipiunt iter nostrum de magicis involventes simul. Videmus in se velle miscere, et animarum est, et fiet unum._ _Totum corpus nostrum ad donum intellectus.”_

__

All mage children usually learn Latin as soon as they can speak or walk, but Lance knew that Keith must have had to learn it later, because some of his pronunciations were stilted and awkward. But, obviously it was still poured with magic and intent, which is how spells like bonding magic really work. Incantations can sometimes be very important, with precise magics like techno magics or potion brewing, while on the emotional side of magics, the most important thing is the imbuement of magic and intent.

The words for the spell were heavy with emotion and intent, translating loosely to:

“ _We begin the journey of wrapping our magics together. We see into each other's souls and wish to combine and become one. We offer our whole mind and body to give as an offering.”_

Keith and Lance stared deeply into each other’s eyes, Lance suddenly feeling the swirling magic raging under Keith’s fingertips. It was heady and deep, feeling like a rush of adrenaline and tasted like woodfire burnt marshmallows. It centered in the front of Lance’s mind, while he could feel it searching over Lance’s magic too.

Their familiars shuddered at the feeling, whining and meowing. At the height of the spell, it crested over, sparking a small thin connection between them. Between their hands, bright shining light burned, It electrified and then burst between their fingertips, shocking them out of the spell. They jumped back and their hands shot apart.

The light lingered between them as small fairy lights. Lance stared at them, then met Keith’s eyes again.

He was surrounded by all the lights, reflecting back into his indigo eyes and he blinked at Lance. He slowly smiled, clutching at his chest.

“I feel you. Your magic…it’s there. In my chest,” Keith whispered, awestruck.

Lance’s fingertips rested against his temple. “I feel yours. In my head…”

“Does it feel bad?” Keith asked, nervously. “Does it make your head hurt? Are you getting any visions?”

Lance shook his head with his hands waving in the air. “No, no, no. It feels…nice…like…you? Somehow? Like I can tell it’s a lot like you. It’s still kind of…intense. But, I think…it’s in a good way.”

Keith let out a sigh of relief. “Oh thank Goddess.”

“Are you-ah, uh-you-,” Lance stuttered, trying to find the words.

Keith reached forward and rested a hand on Lance’s forearm. He smiled, warmly and fondly.

“I’m okay, Lance. I feel…actually, I feel better than I have in a while. Like there’s new energy in my veins.”

Lance sighed with relief himself and nodded. “Good. That’s good. I think we would do that maybe…two more times? But we should definitely take a break. Get our magic acquainted with each other. We can do another spell tomorrow.”

Keith nodded, standing up, then wobbled a little on his feet. Lance scrambled up to catch him in his arms. He watched as Keith’s eyes glossed over and Lance could feel the tug on the blinking connection between them.

They stood in silence as Keith rode out the vision, staring out at nothing then blinking into awareness again. He stepped back as a drop of blood trickled down out of his nostril. Lance summoned the tissue box and offered it.

“That one was weird,” Keith said, frowning. “It was you. You were…yelling at someone? Arguing? In the shop. I didn’t recognize the person. I’ve never seen you that angry…”

Lance’s insides tumbled over and he was dumbfounded. “You…just told me the vision. I didn’t even ask…”

Keith looked at him, then his jaw dropped. “Oh…I didn’t even think about it. I just…felt like I could tell you.”

Lance slowly melted into a smile. “Oh. Well…uh, honestly I don’t even care that at some point I’ll yell at someone for some reason because at least I know that you’re willing to talk about things more. That’s…really good.”

Keith’s face went pink at the cheeks and the tops of his ears.

Lance _loved_ it.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys get to see the reality of their individual struggles in day-to-day life
> 
> TW:// inappropriate relationships (prof/student) and vomiting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ah, so i know i said i was going to get back on schedule more....and yet here we are....  
> soooo.....ya know things happen

That week they spent nearly every second they could together.

Keith stuck to Lance like glue, because it just felt _right._ Lance didn’t seem to mind at all. In fact, whenever they had separate classes, Lance would text him endlessly with memes and just random thoughts.

Lance:

_> dude look at this bird i saw_

_Image attachment_

_> not a single braincell in that bird’s body. look at its eyes. you can hear the elevator music_

__

Keith snickered silently at the messages, flicking his eyes up to see Professor Slav start into yet another class halting rant about alternate realities and the infinite possibilities of the future.

Keith _hated_ the class for that exact reason. No need to tell him about the infinite possibilities of the future. They gave him nosebleeds daily.

He didn’t even bother to hide his phone as he texted back. Professor Slav was more likely to notice if the air conditioning was too cold that was then going to ‘send the entire Earth into another world destruction event so catastrophic that-,’ and Keith was already feeling the migraine.

Keith:

> _Goddess how I wish that were me_

He only waited seconds until Lance texted back.

Lance:

> _lmaoo you’d be the funniest bird ever_

Keith:

> _Oh to be a bird without a single braincell…what a wonderful existence_

Lance sent back several crying laughing emojis. Keith struggled to keep a smile off his face. He was so distracted, he didn’t even realize someone was trying to whisper to him until a finger hit his bare arm from two seats away.

He startled and then froze when the world fell away from him, a vision hitting him full force.

It was of a male student, one he recognized vaguely. A thin olive-skinned boy his age (maybe by the slight boyish cheeks maybe even some years younger), glasses black rimmed and hair short against his head. The scene was an office with dark mahogany furniture and overflowing bookcases lining the walls.

Professor Slav was sitting behind the desk, the male student leaning above him, hands grasping at Slav’s shirt and deftly opening it at the chest. The student fell forward and straddled Slav’s thighs and then they’re _kissing_ -

Keith shot out of the vision, heart pounding in alarm and whipping around to see who touched him.

It was the male student from the vision. He looked surprised by how startled Keith was.

“Uh…sorry to scare you…just wondered if you had a pen I could borrow?” he whispered, nervously looking between Keith and Slav at the front.

Keith’s hands were shaking and he could barely comprehend what he was asking. He glanced at Slav at the front, who was still absorbed in his rant. His entire internal monologue was just a constant string of:

_Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit…_

“Woah, are you okay? Your nose is bleeding…” the student whispered, eyes bulging.

Keith’s hand immediately clamped over his nose and he just scrambled to gather his books and shoved them in his bag. He was eternally grateful he always took the seat closest to the door because he could make a quick escape. He ran down the hallway and he could feel the panic settle in.

_HOLY SHIT, HOLY SHIT, HOLY SHIT_

His phone buzzed in his hand and he fell against a wall, hand trembling over his nose and mouth. He wondered if he was going to be sick this time. It happened every so often when the subject of the vision was more on…. _that side._

He pushed off the wall and stumbled to the bathrooms at the end of the hall, bursting in and falling to the ground at the toilet and dry heaved into it. It was horrible and violating every time he accidentally saw something he was never meant to see.

He coughed at the burn at the back of his throat and he slumped back against the stall. His phone buzzed again.

Keith looked down at the screen, before his shaking fingers opened it up and then pressed ‘call’ on Lance’s contact.

It rang only once before he picked up.

“Dude, you’re supposed to be in class. What’s up?”

Keith let out a shuddering breath. He just wanted to hear his voice. It soothed over the worst of the horror.

“I-Something h-happened. I-I shouldn’t have seen it. I was never meant-it’s not my place…what-he’s and they’re-,”

“Keith, woah, calm down. Deep breaths, you’re panicking. What happened? Where are you?” Lance asked, voice wavering.

“Bath-bathroom. Uh, third floor of the science building. Close to the labs,” Keith said, quietly.

“On my way. Just hold on. I’m really close. I’ll be there in like two minutes.”

The line went dead and Keith’s hand dropped to the floor. He curled up his legs to his chest and wrapped his arms around them, head encased in them.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, _fuck…”_

He couldn’t get the image out of his head. Slav’s expression of smug victory and the student’s expression of unabashed admiration. It was so…obviously a power imbalance. Slav was taking advantage of that student and-

The nausea reared its head again full force and Keith unfurled to bend over the toilet again, this time vomiting up everything he ate for lunch. He heaved and spat and shivered. The burn of bile and the disgust in everything that had just happened overwhelmed his senses. He could see the drops from the nosebleed add to the mess in the bowl.

He panted and hastily grabbed a wad of toilet paper and wiped at his mouth. He threw it in the bowl and flushed.

Suddenly the door of the bathroom slammed open, making Keith jump.

“Keith? Are you in here?”

Keith sighed with relief. “Lance…”

He stood up on shaky legs and opened the stall door. Lance was standing at the opening, panting from obvious running and wide eyes. He grabbed at Keith’s shoulders and looked over his face. Keith was quick to smack a hand over his mouth to keep from Lance getting a face of how horrible his breath had to have been.

“What-are-uh-,”

“Vision. It…it wasn’t…about the stalker. Something else. It’s…still not good. But-uh, different-different kind of bad. Makes…makes me s-sick,” Keith explained, looking away.

Lance took a second to absorb that, before deflating. “Okay. Come here. Let’s get you cleaned up.”

Keith let him take his gloved hand and lead him over to the sinks. Lance casually waved his hand to lock the door and without a hint of it being an effort, picked up Keith at the waist to set him on the counter.

Keith slapped a hand over his mouth again to keep a humiliating squeak from leaving his lips.

Lance just winked, then gently moved Keith’s hand and cupped his chin to look over the mess on his face. He kept a casual expression and wet a paper towel to wipe at his nose and mouth. He settled between Keith’s legs and carefully cleaned him up.

“You can talk about it. If you want,” Lance said, quietly.

Keith stared at Lance’s face being so close to him. He memorized the placement of freckles and the different hues of blue in his eyes. It grounded him, as well as Lance’s scent that was lavender, cloves and sea salt.

He just shook his head in answer.

Lance reached in his back pocket and pulled out a package of gum, offering it to Keith. He took a piece, gratefully sticking it in his mouth to counteract the awful aftertaste in his mouth.

“You don’t usually get sick,” Lance said, curiously.

Keith noticed that he was done cleaning up, but still didn’t step back from between Keith’s legs.

“It’s only when the vision is…uh, more…uh, personal. Not… _violent,_ but more…uh…” Keith cleared his throat, awkwardly. “ _Intimate…”_

Lance blinked once, then twice. His jaw dropped and eyebrows shot up to his hairline.

“Oh my Goddess, you saw someone-holy shit, that’s crazy! I thought Pidge was kidding when they asked about ‘juicy hookups’!” he said, gasping.

Keith narrowed his eyes. “This isn’t ‘juicy’ gossip. It’s not fun and games seeing people’s private moments that they never wanted me to see. Imagine if _you_ were involved in that moment.”

Lance immediately sobered up and placed his hands on Keith’s waist.

“Hey, no, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make fun,” he said, concerned. “But, I mean…that’s not really like seeing people’s deaths, is it?”

Keith chewed on the gum and took a deep breath to calm himself. “Usually it’s not _entirely_ a big deal. And what I saw wasn’t actually… _explicit…_ but, this particular couple…let’s just say that it’s not really the most appropriate pairing. And I didn’t like finding out while in the middle of… _his_ class while _he_ was sitting there as a student.”

“Oh….” Lance said, still looking a bit baffled. He blinked a few times, then went slack jawed at the implication.

_“Oh shit…”_

Keith reluctantly nodded. “Hence the running away and panicked vomiting.”

“Fucking hell, that’s…you just can’t catch a break, huh?” Lance asked, sympathetic.

“I’ve never heard of such a thing,” Keith said, chuckling darkly.

Lance pouted and reached up to run his hands over Keith’s arms for some reason. He thought it might be for comfort, but Keith wasn’t sure. It…did feel nice.

“Do you have any more classes today?” Lance asked.

Keith shook his head. “That was my last one.”

“Then how about we get something to eat? You must be hungry from…well, throwing up,” Lance said, cringing.

“Oh, uh…” Keith thought about it. “Yeah, okay. I guess I can at least get something to drink or something. I don’t know if I’ll want to eat anything.”

“Good enough for me. How about that pizza place across the street from that flower shop?” Lance offered, as he picked up Keith again and set him on the ground.

“Sounds fine.”

Lance made sure they got a booth just towards the back of the restaurant, so they wouldn’t get too overrun with people. Keith kept his sweatshirt on, even as it was pretty warm in the interior. They slid into the booth and the new waitress set two menus down for them to look at before heading off to another table.

“Have you been here?” Lance asked, casually.

Keith shrugged. “Yeah, a few times. Shiro likes it and so does his fiancé. We meet up for lunch sometimes when work or school gets busy and we all can’t fit into schedules.”

Lance hummed. “Favorite toppings?”

“Hawaiian. Pineapple and ham.”

His brain stopped. “What.”

Keith raised an eyebrow. “I said I like pineapple and ham?”

“You’re kidding?”

“No, I literally can’t. You asked me with a question.”

Lance’s lip curled with disgust. “I cannot believe…you absolute _heathen…_ pineapple? Pineapple on pizza? The _worst_ way to pizza?”

Keith’s mouth twitched into an amused smile. “It’s good, though? The sweet and the tang is good with the cheese and the ham. What’s the big deal? It’s not weird, like every pizza place has Hawaiian.”

“It’s-it’s an affront to nature _itself!”_ Lance exclaimed. “Pineapple is a _fruit._ And doesn’t belong on pizza!”

“Tomato is a fruit, though,” Keith said, chuckling. “And tomato sauce is on every pizza.”

“Oh, no you don’t try that one. Tomato is and will always be the exception to every rule. A vegetable it may not be by plant standards, but in my heart it is,” Lance said, pointing a finger.

Keith laughed a little, shaking his head. “Doesn’t change the fact Hawaiian is the best kind of pizza.”

“I-,” Lance was about to keep arguing when the waitress came back and grinned at them.

“Hi, welcome to Balmera Pizza, how are you guys doing today?” she asked, sweetly.

Lance switched into immediate customer service mode, the tone of her voice somehow activating some unconscious retail programming in his mind after years of working in a shop.

“Hey, we’re doing just fine, how about you?” he asked, voice matching hers by instinct.

She opened her mouth to say a performative answer like she would always, but then her expression fell. Lance’s stomach dropped out and he could see the veneer over the girl’s face disappear.

“Oh, nononono, shit wait-,”

“I’m not doing very well. My son-he needs a new leg brace and I’m barely making it on bills as it is, but he’s-he’s in so much _pain_ and it’s so sad to see him so upset. I work _three_ jobs after my deadbeat husband left us and-,”

Lance set his head in his hand, overwhelming himself in guilt for letting himself forget to just _pay attention_ and now she’s telling them both about how she’s had a mental breakdown every day for a month and she might have bipolar disorder and how all of her family has cut her off. The full story ended up nearly ten whole minutes of an entire life’s story.

When she finally trailed off, she blinked and stepped back, mortified.

“Oh-oh my god, I’m so sorry-I didn’t-I don’t know _what_ came over me, that was so-,” she started babbling with wide, teary eyes.

Lance sighed and waved a hand. “It’s fine, it’s fine. I-here, I want to help.”

He dug in his bag and pulled out a checkbook. “Just so that your son can get a new brace and so that you can put a deposit down to see a therapist. That’ll really help.”

“What? Are-no, no that’s-I can’t ask-,” she tried desperately to argue but he already finished writing it down and offered it to her.

“Take it. Come by Altea Books if you want to pay me back someday. Think of it as a loan for now, if you have to. I really don’t care if you just take it and never try to find me again. You deserve it,” he said, insistent. “I’m sorry…well, about everything. You’re a good mom.”

Her breath hitched and her lip wobbled. Tears spilled over and she gingerly took the check. She stared at it with slightly trembling hands.

“I don’t know what to say…” she whispered, choked up.

Keith caught his eye with a concerned look. Lance just subtly sighed at him. Keith turned back to the waitress.

“Take it. He has a thing about helping people. He’ll probably cry more if you don’t take it,” he said, giving a small smile to her.

She sniffled, then nodded. “I- _thank you._ I’ll find you and pay you back. As soon as I can. Altea Books, right? I’ll-I’ll find you again.”

Lance nodded, mouth twitching into what he hoped to be a genuine smile. “Don’t worry about it. But-uh, if you need a moment, we can totally wait on ordering…”

She startled, shoving the check into her pocket and wiping at her face hastily. She pulled out her pen and notebook.

“Oh-oh my god, no, no, uh-what-uh, what do you want to drink?” her voice was trembling and tears still slipped out down her face. Lance tried not to outwardly grimace.

“Just get us both some waters. And then just a thin crust pepperoni for the table,” Keith said, quickly. “Thanks.”

She nodded and practically ran away from the table. As soon as she was out of sight, Lance groaned and his head fell forward to hit the table with his forehead.

“ _Fuck.”_


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another move is made
> 
> TW:// for mentions of blood/body horror and a fairly descriptive panic attack

As their joint shift at the shop started, they were both unnerved and lost in their own heads about seeing the general worst of each other’s powers. Neither of those moments had anything to do with the stalker and yet, both were horrifying in their own right.

Keith settled against the counter as he played with Blue, entertaining her with a finger tracing colors through the air around her face. She batted at them, playfully. He wasn’t in the mood, though.

Lance was quietly shelving new human books with a distant look in his eye. Keith stared at him and thought back to how immediate he was in offering the waitress a check. He wondered how often he ended up doing that.

The door jingled open and Keith looked up, quickly straightening away from the cat.

“Uh, hi…just look at whatever you want. Ask if you need help,” he said, awkwardly.

The person turned and then Keith’s stomach dropped. It was the male student that was sleeping with Professor Slav.

“Kogane? You work here?” he asked, interested.

Keith stepped far away from the counter and pulled his sweatshirt down past his fingertips anxiously. The boy didn’t seem to mind and he leaned over the counter.

“Hey, are you okay about earlier? I’m really sorry, I totally forgot that you don’t like being touched by people. Sla-ahem, uh Professor Slav mentioned that you’re psychic and can get visions from someone touching you. I didn’t mean to accidentally make-,” he started rambling, reminding Keith of Lance in the middle of a rant.

“It’s-it’s fine, just-uh, yeah totally fine,” Keith sputtered out, crossing his arms firmly over his chest and basically melded himself to the wall to keep a distance between them.

“Are you sure? You-you saw something right? Was it-uh, was it of me? Do you remember your visions? How come you get nosebleeds? Is that why you’re so pale?” he kept pushing and prodding harder.

Keith’s anxiety shot through the roof. “Uh, I don’t like talking about it very much. Visions are pretty personal.”

The student looked confused. “Personal? About-about you or the subject of the vision? Wait, did you see something… _personal_ about me? How personal?”

“I don’t-this isn’t-,” Keith tried to work up any excuse to get out of the conversation, but he was just panicking and frozen.

“What was it? _What did you-,”_ the student’s face turned desperate and bordering on the frightened.

“ _Hey,_ that’s enough.”

Lance stalked over from the shelves, abandoning the work. His face was steely and hard, eyes sharp as he put an arm on the counter to block Keith partially from view. The student startled and stepped back at Lance’s tone.

“You’re making him uncomfortable with the questions. If you have personal business with Keith, you’re going to have to catch up with him another time. He’s working right now and it’s unprofessional,” he said, almost bordering on angry.

Or it might actually be anger. Keith couldn’t tell as he watched Lance’s back.

The student blinked at him then looked between them both.

“Kogane is in my class. I just needed to know something _important,”_ he said, eyes looking to Keith, pleading.

Keith wanted nothing more than to run. He had the familiar tug at his chest, telling him to run, run, _run._

“Well I suggest you drop it and _leave him alone.”_

Keith’s eyes shot to the back of Lance’s head. His tone had dropped a full octave at that, menacingly. It was something he’d never heard before. And then a niggling feeling at the back of his mind. The scene looked familiar…

The vision. He saw it in a vision.

The student backed away another step, then sighed. “Okay, fine. I just wanted to check out this place, anyway. I don’t think I really want to come back.”

He swept out of the shop and Keith slumped in relief. Lance sighed, running a hand over his face as he turned back around.

“I’m okay,” Keith said, before Lance had even a chance to say anything. “Are you?”

Lance gave him a small smile. “Yeah. As long as you’re fine.”

Keith nodded, feeling like he really wanted to reach out and…hold his hand? Run his hand over Lance’s arm? On his back? _Something._

“Damn, this day is just out to get us…” Lance muttered, irritated.

“Okay, but there’s no way it could get any worse, though,” Keith said, sighing and draping against the counter.

Lance was about to respond, when the bell chimed with someone else coming in through the door. They both turned to see a delivery woman, holding a box.

“Delivery for…Lance McClain?” she said, looking to them.

“Uh…yeah, that’s me,” Lance said, taking the box and signing without another thought. She waved absently and left. Lance came around behind to set the box on the counter, frowning at the tag.

“Well that’s weird…it says its for Altea Books and lists my name…but usually it says Coran specifically. And there’s this marker on it,” he said, tilting his head.

Keith frowned, leaning forward to read it. As they both were just wondering whether or not to open it, the box rattled in its contents. Both of them jumped back in alarm. Instinctually, Keith put an arm across Lance’s chest in protection.

“Oh shit, is this-,”

Lance couldn’t finish what he was going to ask, because the box’s insides looked to be expanding and the sides bulged as if being pumped full of air from the inside out. Keith’s paranoia spiked and he cursed aloud.

“Get down!” he yelled, tackling Lance and throwing them to the ground.

It was just in time because the box exploded with a loud _boom,_ Lance squeaking in shock and Keith laying over top of him, covering over every inch he could. He cradled Lance’s head against his collarbone. He felt as a wet splotch hit his back on his sweatshirt and the back of his head.

The panic subsided after a few moments of heavy breathing and Keith slowly released Lance, looking down at him. His eyes were wide and Lance was trembling a little under him, creating a very vivid picture of something that could entirely _ruin_ him.

They both startled when loud bangs erupted from the back rooms and Keith turned to see Coran and Allura stumble out from the hallway in terror. They both sat up quickly, but didn’t move from the embrace. It was then that Keith saw what actually happened.

The box lay in tatters over the counter and the area surrounding, including all the shelves and trinkets and the walls were covered in a bright red splatter. It oozed down the walls and puddled on the floor around where Keith and Lance lay. It hit Keith like a ton of bricks, flashes of broken bodies and knives and cuts deep into him as he lay unseeing in a vision.

_Blood_

“Oh my Goddess, are you two okay?” Allura asked, bending down and looking over them.

“Ha-wha-Keith? Did-,” Lance grabbed his face desperately.

Keith was shaking uncontrollably, as he saw Lance’s hands get dyed with the blood and turned wet.

_Blood…blood…BLOOD_

Breathing became laborious for Keith, as his vision became narrowed and clouded. Another stab of panic hit him, thinking he was going to slip into another goddess damned vision. Tears burned at his corners and his chest constricted completely. It was then that he realized, he wasn’t falling away into a different vision.

He was stuck feeling the confines of his terror, reliving the same images he’s seen of his own or Lance’s dead body in every mangled position possible. He could only see the blood and the red covering their bodies that made it impossible to breathe.

Lance in the present seemed to understand something was wrong because his arm slipped to hug at his back under his sweatshirt right to his skin and the other cupped his cheek. His thumb drew circles over his cheekbone, setting their temples together and he started muttering in Keith’s ear.

“Shh, it’s okay, it’s okay, I’m right here. I’m right here, Keith. Listen to my voice, it’s alright. Breathe, come on, just breathe. Focus on me, focus on staying right here in the moment, everything’s okay. We’re okay, we’re okay,” he said, grounding Keith into the present.

Keith took shallow shaking breaths, fists clenching painfully in Lance’s shirt. Tears fell without permission and he couldn’t help a pathetic whimper at the back of his throat. Lance held tighter with a mumbled curse under his breath.

“Fuck, it’s okay. It’s okay, sweetheart. I’m right here.”

It was the term of affection that stabbed right through Keith’s cloud of horror that brought him right into the moment again. He lost all the images of broken bodies and blood, breath punching into his lungs as he coughed. He breathed deeper, slower. Focused on being that close to Lance and feeling his breath against his ear, the ocean and lavender smell that gently caressed his nose.

His heart pounding panic left his system and he slowly unclenched his fists from stretching out Lance’s shirt anymore.

“You’re okay, sweetheart. It’s alright,” Lance said again, with less of an urgency.

Keith’s hand splayed out more on Lance’s chest and he purposefully found the pounding heartrate that beat against Lance’s ribs.

_It’s okay, he’s still alive, he’s right here. He’s right here in my arms._

Keith finally nodded, showing that he was okay again. Lance lost a bit of tension in his body, slowly backing away and they looked back in each other’s eyes again.

Goddess, Lance was something _otherworldly._

There was a wet shine in his blue, sparkling eyes that reflected the light and made it seem like it was the ocean with the sun dripping off the surface. The sweat and heat built up around his skin and beat against Keith’s as they stared at each other.

“You’re okay…” Lance whispered, a statement.

Keith could understand the implications behind it. He nodded.

“Are you?”

Lance sighed and nodded. “Yeah. You were totally ready to take a bomb for me, though. I kind of want to yell at you and also hug you and never let you go. It’s a weird thing to feel.”

“My boys, are you alright?”

Keith startled and looked over to see Coran crouching next to them, looking them both over. It was just then that Keith realized he was basically straddling Lance’s hips and they were all over each other.

He shot away from Lance so quickly and violently that he banged his spine and head against the edge of the counter. He hissed, hand coming up to rub at the abused part of his head, freezing at the wetness there. He looked at it, seeing that there was blood there too.

“I believe it’s animal blood,” Allura announced, turning to them. “Probably pig’s by…uh, context clues, but I can’t know for sure. The magic imbuement was in the encasing of it. It was rigged to explode at the presence of Keith’s magics is what I’m guessing. And I’m very sorry to be the one to show you…but there is a note.”

Keith stood on quivering legs, using the slick counter to hold himself up. Lance shot to his feet with a much more composed stance. He took the note and frowned at it.

“Okay…I didn’t like the motherfucker before…but, now I’m sure that if this person reveals themselves, I’ll rip out their goddess damned throat,” Lance growled, magics churning in the air around him.

Keith frowned. “What does it say?”

Lance held it out for him, no longer shaking from fear it seemed, but unbridled wrath. Keith took it, then grimaced. He didn’t even register a bell ringing behind him.

**KEITH KOGANE IS NOTHING BUT A PIG FOR SLAUGHTER**

“What the absolute ever-loving fuck?” Keith muttered, gob smacked.

“Yeah, that’s what I’d like to know.”

He whirled around to see Shiro standing just inside the doorway, gaping at the scene he walked into. He zeroed in on Keith, who was still covered in the blood.

“Care to tell me?”

In the whirlwind of the situation, it turned out that the bomb in the box was _not_ very quiet and alerted the entire café and even the old records store next door. The human police ended up being called for the ruckus, as the city still wasn’t known for being completely non-violent.

Allura, Coran and Shiro worked to hide all evidence of it being magical in nature and Keith and Lance had to be questioned over and over by both Academy and human police authorities. The next few hours passed by in a blur and Keith was now forced to promise that if anything happened with the stalker to contact the Academy immediately.

After all was said and done, the gang holed up in the closed café and Keith held a cup of tea in his hands, as Hunk fussed over both of them.

“I feel like I should call Pidge. I should call them, right?” Hunk asked, sitting down across from him.

Keith flinched, thinking of the fact they were still giving each other the silent treatment. Lance glanced between Keith and Hunk.

“Uh, it’s okay. I’ll call them and explain everything. It was meant for me after all,” Lance said, casually.

Keith flinched again, hunching in on himself. Lance sighed, gently grabbing Keith’s chin and making him look him in the eyes.

“Stop that. I see you blaming yourself and I’m telling you to stop,” he said, firmly.

“I-but it was because-,” Keith tried to argue, but Lance cut him off again with a furious shaking of his head.

“Nope.”

“But-,”

“Nah, no, and nope.”

“It’s my-,”

“Nuh uh. Nada, no.”

“They’re after-,”

A feigned surprised gasp. “Oh what’s that? No, I don’t hear anything.”

“Lance, if you don’t stop, _I’m_ going to kill you,” Keith said, growling.

Lance just smiled, pleased. “And there’s my lovely little grumpy psychic. I missed you.”

Keith’s heart jumped in his chest and he felt his cheeks burn. Hunk sighed, dramatically.

“I have a bottle of whiskey hidden under one of the floorboards in here. Anyone else want a drink?” Hunk asked, standing up and rubbing at his temple.

All the rest of the gang besides Keith and Lance voiced adamant want for the liquor.


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beginning of the end...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we're getting to the actual climactic points of the series so buckle up kiddos!!

Keith was ready to risk it all for Lance McClain right in the damn present.

Lance was the thing that changed his entire life and he wasn’t at all sure of what to do. Falling for him seemed like such the obvious result in hindsight. He basically moved into his fucking apartment.

It was _such_ a bad idea.

Especially considering the fact they ended up finishing almost the entire soul bond magic circles, which meant their magic was nearly entirely intertwined. And that meant Keith could feel the palpable sunspot magics that Lance had living in his chest. 

Some week or so had gone by, in which it was Wednesday and he was exhausting himself trying to stay awake. He’d had maybe two hours total of sleep and he was barely functional at that point. The dreams had become much, much worse.

Some decision had been made on either side that made the prophecies more gruesome, to the point Keith was scared to even close his eyes.

He skipped all his classes and even Lance had started to call in to work.

They were both barely hanging on.

Keith’s anxiety was so high he’d actually _burned_ through his calming crystals and Kosmo rarely left his side.

That morning Lance had decided to go to work again and Keith accompanied, because technically he worked there too. And he didn’t want Lance to go out in public alone.

In the shop, both of them had much more subdued energy. Allura kept giving them concerned looks.

Keith was so exhausted that Lance let him have the stool at the counter and his head nodded a little while settled in his palm.

“Dude, you should go home and go to sleep. You look like a damn zombie,” Lance said, glancing at him.

“I’d rather gauge out my own eyes right now, but thanks for the concern,” Keith said, grumpy. “I’m going back to Hunk to get some coffee. Want anything?”

Lance sighed. “Yeah, get me a cookie. Double chocolate chip. I deserve to treat myself.”

“Got it.”

He headed back, rubbing at his forever aching head. Goddess, he wished he had strong painkillers.

He wondered if all this bullshit was going to make him into an addict of something.

In the café, immediately Hunk looked up from where he was wiping down the counter. Keith waved a hand, then paused as Pidge was hunched over at the bar.

_Ah, fuck_

He considered leaving again, when Hunk called out to him.

“Hey Keith, want something?”

He froze and made awkward eye contact with Pidge, who looked at him over their shoulder. He sighed, sitting at the bar in his usual seat. He was too fucking tired for this.

“Give me whatever you have with the highest amount of caffeine. Then like…make that double.”

Hunk gave him a worried look. “You sure, man?”

Keith just looked at him, slapping down a ten-dollar bill. Hunk just sighed, getting to work on the drink.

Pidge glanced at him in the corner of their eye the exact same moment Keith did, too. Their eyes were puffy and red-rimmed, hair spiking up obviously from hands grabbing at it. They huffed, lip curling.

“You look like that stalker already killed you.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “You’re one to talk.”

Pidge clicked their tongue, going back to typing away on their computer. They sat in silence for a little bit, before they sighed.

“Sorry.”

Hunk kept looking between them nervously. Keith reached over and patted their head, making them bat at his hand.

“Me too. You were right. And I told Lance about my visions.”

Both Hunk and Pidge startled, looking over with wide eyes. Pidge grabbed at his arm.

“Really? Did anything help? What did he say? Are you okay?”

Keith shook his head. “Nothing stood out to him. As it usually does, seeing as how nothing’s happened in real life yet.”

Pidge sighed, nodding. “Right, right. But, _we_ still can’t know what happened?”

“No,” he said, grumpily. “Not…not yet. But the visions had to do with him, so you were right. And we’re working together on it.”

“So that’s why _both_ of you are looking like zombies?” Hunk asked, over his shoulder.

Keith casually flipped him off, making him gasp.

“How rude.”

Pidge snorted, flipping up their glasses to pinch at their nose. “I’ve been doing some research on my own. Which, I totally shouldn’t because I have like five projects I need to do before mid-terms.”

“Oh Goddess _fuck_ me,” Keith cursed, violently. “I forgot about mid-terms. I’m just going to fail this whole semester, aren’t I? Great. Shiro might ground me.”

“Dude, you’re like twenty-two. Shiro can’t ground you,” Hunk said, passing over a cup of probable sludge.

Keith gave Hunk a look. “You don’t know my brother like I do. If he wants me grounded, I’m grounded.”

“It’s true,” Pidge said, sighing. “He once grounded Matt. And we’re not even related to him.”

Hunk looked behind him again, then froze at something behind their heads. Keith cocked his head in confusion.

“What would I ground someone for?”

Keith had taken a sip of the horrific drink of coffee and gasped at the sound of Shiro behind them, making him choke on it. He coughed as both Pidge and Shiro patted him on the back to help it along.

He turned and glared at his brother. “Mind giving me some warning? Goddess, I’m being stalked, you know. I’m on edge.”

“Yes, yes,” Shiro said, rolling his eyes. “How could I forget?”

Keith turned back to Hunk. “And Lance wants a cookie.”

Hunk chuckled, taking one out of its glass case and handing it over in a wrapping. Keith took it and got up from the bar.

“Well it didn’t suck talking to everyone, but I have to get back to work. As you know…I guess I work here now or something,” he said, waving a hand and hoping that Shiro didn’t try to say anything more.

Keith must have looked real bad, because Shiro actually _didn’t_ say anything more and the surprise of that nearly made him stop. But he continued on to the shop, sipping at his coffee that tasted like tar.

He rounded the corner to stop at the scene at the counter.

Lance was talking to none other than Lotor.

Keith zeroed in on Lance’s expression of a tight smile and a nervous scratching of Blue actually on his shoulders, which only happened when Lance needed firsthand support. Lotor had an easy gait to him, hands in his pockets and a pleasant smile to his face. Keith stepped in immediately, slamming his coffee cup to the counter and making both the men jump in surprise.

Lotor tilted his head in intrigue by Keith’s appearance and Keith caught Lance’s anxious eye.

“Hey, Lotor. What are you talking about?” Keith asked, an edge to his voice.

Lotor hummed, looking him up and down. “Keith. Surprised to see you here. Again.”

Lance laughed, nervously. “Oh yeah, uh, I guess I forgot to mention that he works here too….now. So, uh…coworkers and stuff!”

“Yeah, it’s surprising to see you here, too. Got something else to buy?” Keith asked, hand on the counter and the other hand to his hip. Completely an intimidation act.

Lotor chuckled at Keith’s demeanor. “No, this time I had personal business with Lance.”

Lance’s glance to him only conveyed a plea for help. Keith held himself taller.

“Well, this _is_ a place of business. But, sorry to say it’s not a place of _personal_ business. It’s inappropriate to talk about that stuff while Lance is under the expectation of keeping up customer service. He can’t properly tell you to fuck off,” Keith said, casually.

“But, fortunately for all of us, I don’t give a shit about customer service, so I’ll tell you for him to _Fuck. Off.”_

He called for his familiar and Kosmo appeared right next to Lotor, who jumped in shock away from the growling wolf-dog hybrid. Lotor frowned, looking between them all, then sighed exasperated.

“Fine, fine. I can see where I’m not wanted. I’ll talk to you again soon, Lance.”

Lotor swept from the shop and Lance relaxed as the chime closed the door. Keith wordlessly handed over the cookie and sent Kosmo back to the apartment. He sipped at his disgusting coffee with a grimace.

“Fuckboy?” Keith asked, glancing over to Lance.

He sighed, opening up the wrapper. “Yeah. Fuckboy.”

“Did he want something specific?”

Lance hesitated, as Blue teleported to the counter, meowing at Keith. He scratched the familiar on the head as she purred. Lance watched the interaction, then relaxed.

“He said that since he gave me a tip the last time….that I _owed_ it to him to sleep with him,” Lance said, quietly.

“What-what the _fuck?”_ Keith asked, alarmed. “That Goddess damned-,”

He straightened up and pushed up the sleeves on his jacket, about to go and give that piece of shit the introduction to Keith’s scrappy fighting. Lance grabbed his arm, exasperated.

“Dude, it’s fine. If you don’t take a chill pill, you’re going to start throwing books and I don’t want that coming out of your pay,” Lance said, pulling him back behind the counter. “This shit happens. No big deal.”

“No big deal?” Keith repeated, angrily. “That’s sexual harassment, Lance. That’s not ‘no big deal’.”

“Might I remind you about staying quiet on your own imminent doom for nearly a year?” he said, an eyebrow up at him. “I don’t know if you have much to say on the ‘no big deal’ front.”

Keith clicked his tongue in irritation. “Fine. But, if he comes back I can’t promise I won’t sick Kosmo on his ass. That dog can bite.”

Lance chuckled, fighting a pleased smile. “Oh, yes…my knight in shining armor. However did I live without you?”

“By all accounts you lived quite unhappily,” Keith said, immediately taken by the magic. He clamped down on his teeth in shock that he said that. “Ah, sorry, uh that was…”

“The magic, no that was my bad,” Lance said, shaking his head and sighing. “And of course…it’s true, so what do I even have to be upset about?”

“It was disrespectful. You’re allowed to be upset by that,” Keith said, frowning. “Your curse means that a lot of times, people say upsetting things to you.”

“Oh, you w _ant_ me to get mad at you?”

“No, of course not,” Keith said, compelled. He sighed. “I _mean_ that you can still get upset if I say something upsetting to you. Even if it was compelled out of me. You don’t have to just take it, you know?”

Lance pursed his lips, then slowly melted into a smile. “That’s one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me.”

Keith blinked, surprised. “Really?”

“I mean, you’re right when you say a lot of people say really upsetting things to me sometimes, so I don’t know if you have much of a competition, but…yeah that’s a really nice thing to say to me,” he said, nudging with a shoulder.

Keith leaned on the counter, still feeling the dregs of exhaustion, but smiled. He was so genuinely tired down to his bones that he was grateful for the help in standing up.

“Well, I’m glad I accidentally said something nice. I wonder if Santa would count that.”

Lance sputtered into laughter, leaning on the counter next to Keith, much closer than before. Keith’s heart raced at the change, especially as Lance’s expression had turned much more relaxed and open. All Keith could do was stare at the color of Lance’s eyes as they sparkled with mirth. The soft edges of the lips wrapped around an affectionate smile.

_Oh Goddess, I’m so fucked_

Selfish. It was so unbelievably selfish to fall for Lance.

Keith took up and uprooted Lance’s entire life. Threw it into chaos, full of doom. Awaiting death. A crazed maniac targeting him.

If Keith had never walked into that shop by happenstance, maybe Lance wouldn’t be marked for death.

“Hey, dude…you’re actually not looking good right now. Are you sure-ah, uh…tell me you’re actually okay.”

Lance was turned concerned again and Keith was about to say that he was fine, but then he realized the racing heart didn’t stop it’s pounding pace. His breath actually stuttered in his chest. His magics…it pulled from within his head and he sucked in a breath of pain. He clutched at his chest in alarm and backed away from the counter.

“Wha-Keith? Woah, hey!” Lance said, reaching out as he straightened. “What’s-?”

Keith then felt an enormous pressure just behind his eyes and he let out a noise like a gritted cry. The pain so unbearable for that moment, he actually wondered if that was when he was going to die. His hands clapped to the sides of his head and he tried to silence the horrible wailing sound at the back of his mind.

The last thing he remembered was staggering back with unsteady feet, staring at Lance’s wide terrified blue eyes and wishing that he hadn’t been so selfish.

Then everything went black.


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance begins his operation of Save Keith

“ _Keith!”_

Lance fell to the ground, as Keith laid sprawled, face pale and sweating. Lance had just watched in horror as _something_ happened and Keith fell to the ground suddenly, as though he were a marionette with his strings cut. He shook Keith’s shoulder, the pale boy completely unresponsive.

“ _Help! Someone help! Allura_!” he screamed, desperately.

The shop stuttered into silence, the few patrons around looking at the counter with surprise. Lance heard as Allura’s footsteps came running from the backroom and she stopped in the doorway with the beaded curtain parted.

“Allura, I don’t know what-he just, he just-wha-what do I-?” Lance stuttered, terrified.

Her eyes widened in shock and she was quick to work, moving around Keith’s body to kneel at his head. She placed a hand over Keith’s forehead, closing her eyes and searching with her magics.

“Lance, you need to call an ambulance, I think Keith needs medical attention. I will deal with the shop. Go in the back room and-,”

She was cut off as Keith’s back grotesquely arched off the ground. Lance’s stomach dropped out in alarm as Keith’s body started to seize violently. Allura had to scramble back and then hurried to move Keith’s head into her lap.

“Lance, _now!”_

He whipped out his phone and dialed 911 with shaking hands, pressing the speaker to his ear with a tight hand.

“911, what’s your emergency?” the woman over the phone answered on the usual practiced spiel.

“My-my friend, he’s-he’s uh, something’s-something’s wrong!” he said, desperately. “Altea Books and Charms, we’re a shop on Rosemary street, uh, _fuck,_ uh, I think it’s 2560? Please, please we need an ambulance!”

“Alright, sir, I understand. A team will be dispatched as soon as possible. Can you tell me what happened?” she asked, urgently, but still calm.

Lance whimpered as Keith _kept_ seizing, he covered his hand over his mouth at the violent urge to vomit from terror.

“Sir, can you hear me? Can you tell me what happened to your friend?”

He vaguely heard as the door opened and he glanced to see the customers slowly trickle out, uncomfortable. He let out a few short breaths to try and explain.

“He-he just…uh, collapsed and-and now he’s having a seizure and it’s-fuck, it’s a really long seizure!” he practically yelled into the phone.

Lance felt long hot tears streak down his face, as Keith finally stopped seizing. At first, he almost felt relieved, then a horrible, horrible thought.

“Oh my Goddess, Allura is he-?”

She checked for a pulse as both of them stalled in alarm, a new problem arising.

Keith’s nostrils _and_ ears started leaking blood. Lance locked eyes with Allura, as the situation turned. Because that could mean a vision and if it’s a magical related illness, then a regular hospital wouldn’t help.

“Sir, can you tell me what’s happening currently?” the woman said, seemingly in repetition.

“I-uh, this is-,” Lance said, battling with the conflict.

Allura nodded her head, signaling to keep going and Lance sniffled, gathering what was left of his wits.

“Uh, he’s-he’s not seizing anymore, but uh, he’s-his nose and ears are bleeding…” he said, hesitantly into the phone.

_What do we do? What if its magic? What if they can’t help? Who can help? What if Keith-_

“Wait!” he said, freezing. “Shiro! Shiro’s here! He might be able to help! Here, take it, finish the call.”

Lance scrambled to hand the phone over to Allura, who just barely took it with shaking hands. He expertly ran through the shop, dodging shelves and tables, slamming open the door to the café.

“Shiro!” he yelled out into the now frozen scene.

The man whirled around and stood, alarmed. Lance’s entire body was trembling as he gulped at Shiro’s expression.

“Keith! It’s Keith!”

Hunk, Pidge and Shiro all drained of color and Hunk dropped the mug he was holding, shattering it on the ground. Shiro and Pidge scrambled to move through the café and Hunk even abandoned his post to follow.

Lance hurried back as they all fell in line behind him.

“What’s going on?”

Lance just pulled Shiro by the one arm to show the scene with Keith unconscious on the ground, with Allura speaking on the phone. Shiro’s face crumpled and he carefully stepped around to crouch at Keith’s feet.

“He’s alive. He’s breathing and I feel a pulse,” Allura said, still holding Keith’s head. “But something’s wrong. Something is blocking my-,”

She frowned as she was spoken to on the phone again.

“Okay, the ambulance is on its way. Hunk, can you close down the café? And Lance, can you call Coran?”

Shiro whipped out his own phone, dialing. “I’m calling my fiancé. He’s a doctor at Garrison General.”

And soon enough, all of them were calling in the calvary, Lance desperately staring at Keith’s ashen face stained red with blood.

He trembled.

Lance always hated hospitals. So many damn questions.

As he sat with his blunt thumbnail between his teeth and a knee bouncing so hard that he might be annoying every other person in the room, he thought through every single question he had and analyzed it if it could somehow go wrong if he asked the wrong person.

_Is he okay? What happened? What’s wrong with him?_

Hunk and Pidge were sitting across from him, Pidge’s hand clenched in Hunk’s shirt for stability. A new person had shown up, Pidge’s brother Matt sat next to them. Shiro spoke to the woman at the counter, Allura sat next to Lance.

“Lance, was there any point that this could have been-?”

“The crazed psychopathic stalker after us? I don’t know. He just collapsed, Allura. I just-,” Lance hesitated, sighing. “I don’t know. If it’s a vision, the nosebleed could mean it is, then something really, really, really bad is going to happen. I don’t-,”

Lance squeezed his eyes shut, shaking his head.

“I don’t know.”

His hand came to grasp at the black onyx stone sitting against his chest and he stroked down it’s length.

“This is getting too dangerous, Lance. What if…what if it’s too dangerous to even be _around_ Keith? I-I don’t want you to just drop-,” she was about to finish, when Lance turned and glared so hard her teeth clicked together in shock.

“Don’t even think about suggesting that I leave him alone. It’s not going to happen. He needs all of us. Or else he might really die. And I’m _not_ going to let that happen.”

Allura pursed her lips, then sighed. “I’m sorry. I knew I shouldn’t have even said that. But, I’m just worried about you. You’re the closest thing I have to family left, after Coran. If this person starts targeting you, too…”

“Then we deal with it together. Keith has been going at this alone for too long. He needs support. And I’ve already promised to give it to him. Allura, he’s…he’s really important to me, now. I’m not going to let him down,” he said, quieter than before.

Shiro came over, sitting next to Lance on his other side and carefully laid a hand on Lance’s shoulder.

“I think you should come with me. I’m going to talk to Adam,” he said, gently. “You know the most about what’s been going on, you can probably help.”

Lance blinked at the man, startled. “Wait, huh, wait, _me?_ What can I-,”

He stopped himself by physically clenching his jaw. Shiro just squeezed his shoulder in solidarity.

“Okay. I’ll come.”

They both stood and the others watched them as they headed down a hallway towards the observation rooms. A few doctors and nurses were milling about, Shiro beelining it to a handsome dark-skinned doctor with glasses and short hair. He looked up from where he was studying a chart and relaxed.

“Takashi…” he said, sighing. “I don’t know what’s wrong with Keith. I can’t make sense of it medically. It has to be something magical.”

Lance tensed and cursed in Spanish under his breath. If it was something magical it was going to be a lot harder to diagnose.

Shiro sighed and nodded. “Adam, this Lance. Lance, this is my fiancé Dr. Adam West.”

Lance accepted his offer of a handshake as Adam smiled at him, despite the circumstances.

“It’s nice to finally meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you,” Adam said, chuckling. “Specifically in how much you’ve helped Keith. Thank you.”

Lance didn’t quite know how to respond to that. He didn’t deserve that. He failed. Keith was sick and he failed.

“It’s nice to meet you too,” he said instead, quietly.

“What have you said about him to the regular humans?” Shiro asked, getting back on track.

“For now I’ve said that he’s suffering from a combination of insomnia, a panic attack and exhaustion. They want to do an MRI to look for possible epilepsy for the seizures. But, I’ve recommended IV bags and rest first, because I’m worried about how his psychic brain would look in those scans,” Adam explained, quietly so that no one would overhear.

“Do you know anything that could help him right now…like magically?” Lance asked, urgently. “Is there a-a spell or-or elixir?”

Adam sighed. “Unless we know the exact magic that’s affecting him and _how,_ there’s not anything we can do.” He paused for a moment, thoughtful. “Wait, doesn’t Keith have a familiar?”

Lance froze, completely forgetting about Kosmo. “Yeah…he does…and he hasn’t once popped in….shouldn’t he be the first to notice when something is wrong with Keith and his magic?”

Shiro whipped around, just as Lance looked at him. They both seemed to realize it together.

_“Kosmo!”_

Lance grasped at Shiro’s shoulder, urgently. “You keep Keith company. Stall the humans from doing anything to him. I’m going to go and find Kosmo. If he’s sick and it’s affecting Keith, then it’s only a matter of time before things get really bad.”

The two men nodded, sending him off and he ran down the hallways, back into the exit onto the side parking lot. It was getting into the evening, then, so he hurried down the steps and crouched out of sight.

He called for Blue, who immediately appeared in front of him.

“Baby, where’s Kosmo?” he asked, urgently.

Blue meowed, going to the ground and sniffing, tracking the scent. She slowed down in a direction out towards the back streets and then the hair on her tail spiked in alarm. She hissed in that direction.

“Can you take me to him?” he asked, reaching over a hand. “Be careful. That will take a lot of magic.”

She meowed again, determined. She wanted to help her new friend, it seemed.

“Good kitty. You’ll get so much catnip for this, I promise. Now let’s go save our friends.”

Lance was teleported to none other than the alley behind Keith’s apartment building.

He stumbled as the familiar’s magic took a toll on his own magic. He groaned and shut his eyes as a sharp migraine erupted at the top of his head and his magic dulled under the stress. Blue started panting from exhausting her own magic.

Lance breathed through the feeling and then slowly blinked open his eyes again.

The alley had only a few trash cans and crates thrown around and smelled like a sewer. Blue stumbled over to a pile of trash bags and poked her paw at it, meowing pitifully.

“Oh no…” Lance whispered, horrified.

He quickly moved the bags and uncovered Kosmo, unconscious just like Keith. Lance’s shaking hand slowly moved over to check Kosmo’s breathing at the nose or opened mouth. With a relieved sigh, he felt breath on his palm.

Lance set his hands on Kosmo’s middle and used his dulled magic to search through the familiar’s magic. He immediately hissed as he felt a strong curse gripping at Kosmo’s magic, trapping it under a sheen of black inky tendrils.

He knew exactly what happened to Keith then. Someone cursed Kosmo, violently forcing the soul bond that connected them to break apart and sending both mage and familiar into illness.

Lance hadn’t felt that _enraged_ in maybe his entire life.

Whoever this person was, whatever they wanted with Keith…

They messed with the _wrong_ mage.

He quickly brought out his phone and called Shiro. The man picked up within seconds.

“Lance? Have you found Kosmo?” he asked, with preamble.

“Yeah, I found him. He’s in bad shape, Shiro,” he said, voice shaking from nerves. “We need to do an immediate circle with him. The group needs to all meet up at the shop and someone needs to come get us in the alleyway behind Keith and Pidge’s apartment building.”

“Okay, I’m heading over now,” Shiro said, seriously. “Lance, keep an eye out for anything. They may still be lurking around. Adam’s going to do a bridge in Keith’s room, while we break the curse on Kosmo.”

“Gotcha,” Lance said, standing up and putting up a strong barrier around them to hide their magic presences. “Please hurry.”

“I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

The line went dead and Lance knelt back down, petting over Kosmo’s neck. Blue meowed again, nose bumping against Kosmo’s trying to rouse the familiar. The intense sadness emanating from the cat made Lance tear up again.

“It’s going to be alright, baby. We’re going to fix this. Make them all better again…”

He turned to glare at the still empty alleyway.

“And when we find whoever did this…I’ll make them _pay._ I fucking swear it. _”_

**Author's Note:**

> GO SHOUT OUT THE ARTIST!!!
> 
> rispen.tumblr.com


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